More than 24,700 people rallied for Sen. Bernie Sanders in San Jose and Los Angeles on Sunday ahead of the delegate-rich Democratic presidential primary in California, where the Sanders campaign said it has knocked on over a million doors and made more than six million phone calls to voters.
"The corporate establishment is getting nervous," Sanders said to a crowd of nearly 10,000 San Jose. "The political establishment is getting nervous as well. Some in the Democratic establishment are saying, 'My God, look at the turnout here!'"
At the Los Angeles Convention Center Sunday night, the Vermont senator once again nodded at size of the crowd — "in case you haven't noticed, there are a few people here tonight" — before turning his attention to the California primary and beyond.
"With your help on Tuesday, we're gonna win the Democratic primary here in California," Sanders said after thanking Bonnie Castillo of National Nurses United, Marisa Franco of Mijente, and others who spoke ahead of the senator Sunday evening. "With your help, we're gonna win the Democratic nomination. And with your help, we are going to defeat the most dangerous president in the modern history of America."
"All across this country the American people are saying, 'No, we will not have a pathological liar in the White House for four more years,'" Sanders continued. "'We will not have a president who is undermining American democracy, who believes he is above the law.' In November of 2020, Donald Trump is going to learn we are a democracy and not an autocracy, because we're going to throw him out of office."
The Sanders campaign's California rallies came just 48 hours before Super Tuesday, when 1,357 delegates are up for grabs — 415 in California alone.
Recent polling indicates that Sanders, bolstered by strong support from the state's Latino voters, is the driver's seat in California. As Common Dreams reported, a Los Angeles Times/U.C. Berkeley survey released Friday showed Sanders with a two-to-one lead over his closest rival, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
An Emerson poll out early Monday showed Sanders with a similarly commanding lead in the state:
"Our campaign has built a multi-racial, multi-generational working class movement across California," Rafael Návar, California state director for the Sanders campaign, said in a statement. "Our supporters and our volunteers across the state are what drives this campaign, and we have the energy and excitement to do very well here in California."
Shares