Bernie Sanders Visits LA

Senator Bernie Sanders hosted his largest 2020 presidential rally thus far during his Los Angeles visit on Saturday, March 23, in downtown Los Angeles. There were approximately 15,000 people in attendance.

Public figures took the podium to address the crowd of thousands, such as singer Laura Jean Anderson, violinist Lili Haydn, rapper Tony “Tig” Wilson, Disney union organizer Artemis Bell, CWA organizer Eric Weis, California’s 17th District Representative Ro Khanna and Ohio State Senator Nina Turner.

Turner walked up the stairs to the wooden podium facing the large cheering crowd, “LA, this has been quite a journey,” said Turner facing the crowd clad with Bernie signs. “What the people want is simple, we want to be able to live a good life. We want to be able to have clean water, clean food, clean air… What the people want is simple. And that this place will not be a good place to live in if it’s not a good place for all of us to live in. And the journey for senator Sanders… has been one for equality and justice for all.”

A rendition of John Lennon’s Power to the People played as 2020 presidential election candidate Bernie Sanders took the stage, welcomed by a roaring crowd. “As I look around this enormous crowd, I think, not only are we going to win California, but we’re going to win the Democratic nomination,” Sanders said as the crowd started chanting ‘Bernie! Bernie!’

Sanders addressed one of the core issues of his 2020 presidential campaign to the crowd. "This is what I believe from the bottom of my heart. If we stand together, if we do not allow Trump and his friends to divide us up, if we come together as black, white, latino, native American or Asian, if we come together it’s game and true,” Sanders said.

Sanders closed the rally by saying, “So I believe from the bottom of my heart that when we stand together, when we keep our eyes on the prize, when we know where we are going in creating a government and economy that works for all of us, when we go forward together, nothing is going to stop us. So, Los Angeles, thanks for coming out today, let’s go forward together.”

The majority of the large crowd slowly started to disperse from Grand Park while others decided to stick around to enjoy music playing in the background, purchase Bernie 2020 memorabilia, or to chat amongst other rally-goers.

Emily Moscoso, a 22-year-old Los Angeles native attending college at San Francisco State University, attended the rally with two other friends while in town for spring break. “There was a lot of different kinds of people that showed up today, which was really great to see the difference of support that Bernie’s getting,” Moscoso said.

Moscoso supported Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign and is planning on voting for him in next year’s primary election which she thinks should be focused on not re-electing Trump. “Ultimately, I think this election in general is going to be about beating Donald Trump and whoever the nominee ultimately ends up being, I hope that that’s what everyone decides to ban together to do,” Moscoso said.