Sen. Bernie Sanders held his first major presidential campaign rally in Burlington, Vt., this evening. Sanders, Burlington’s former mayor, told the audience he is running because he wants to curb the power of millionaires and billionaires.
Sanders is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. He is a self-described socialist who was elected as an independent but caucuses with Democrats in the Senate.
“Today we begin a political revolution to transform our country economically, politically, socially, and environmentally,” Sanders said. “Brothers and sisters, now is not the time for thinking small … now is the time for millions of working families to come together.”
Sanders said the country may be facing a crisis more serious than at any other time in history, when accounting for climate change, and added that he would not let the election be about Hillary Clinton or Jeb Bush.
The audience received free Ben and Jerry’s ice cream — a company that also hails from Burlington — and listened to a band of Vermonters, according to TIME. The namesakes, Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield appeared on stage on Tuesday afternoon and called for the start of the “Bernie rebellion.”
“The system isn’t broken, it’s rigged,” Cohen said. “Some say that voting for Bernie is throwing your vote away, I say voting for anyone else is flushing your vote down the drain. And you know, sometimes the underdog wins.”
Sanders may push former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the left. Sanders has said he would not condemn the Democratic frontrunner for making millions of dollars in speaking fees, but suggested that “when you hustle money like that” you forget about everyday Americans.
In an email to supporters earlier this afternoon, Sanders’ campaign cautioned the public against underestimating the senator and he intended to launch a “political revolution.”
“The billionaires of America are on the warpath, buying candidates and elections to quench their insatiable appetite for more and more,” the Sanders campaign fundraising appeal said. “Meanwhile, while the rich get richer, millions of us work longer hours for lower wages and children go hungry.”
Sanders’ liberal campaign has the blessing of some progressives, as the top “Draft Elizabeth Warren” aide in New Hampshire just joined Sanders’ campaign. Sanders appears to be Clinton’s main opposition in the Democratic primary. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley will announce his decision about whether to enter the Democratic field later this week.
