Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders nearly matched former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the Democratic Iowa Caucus Feb. 1, according to the Associated Press.

Sanders had 49.6 percent of the caucus vote, while Clinton had 49.9 percent of the vote, according to the AP.

Former Governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley had 0.6 percent of the vote, and suspended his campaign Monday night, according to the Washington Post.

Sanders isn’t new to the underdog ticket, beginning his political career with losses in the Vermont gubernatorial elections of 1972 and 1976.

Running against five-term incumbent Mayor Gordon Paquette, Sanders became the mayor of Burlington by just a 10-point margin in 1981, according to a June 20, 2015 NPR article.

Sanders was re-elected to the mayorship three times by the citizens of Burlington before running for a seat on the U.S. House of Representatives.

In 1988, he lost the congressional election by 3 points, with the seat going to Republican Peter Smith.

It was his first election loss in 10 years, according to a Nov. 1988 Cynic article.