Ben Carson drew Bernie Sanders-sized crowds in Arizona on Tuesday, hosting a rally of over 12,000 people at the Phoenix Convention Center before embarking on a helicopter tour of the border Wednesday.
The retired pediatric neurosurgeon seeks to capitalize on the fact he is one of the few GOP candidates not named Donald Trump with any momentum.
Carson spoke to the crowd about how until recently the media counted him out of the race as he is not a career politician, but thanks to the help of “we the people” and God, he was able to rise to the top, despite his outsider status.
“All the pundits say it’s impossible,” Carson said, “Lord, if you want me to do it, open the doors and I will walk through.”
“This country was designed for the people — of, for and by the people,” he added.
Carson plans to speak with both citizens and law enforcement professionals during his tour of the U.S. border with Mexico.
“The fact of the matter is we do have an illegal immigration problem in this country,” Carson said. “We have laws and we need to be able to pay attention to our laws and what I have said consistently is we need to seal our borders— but not just the southern border, the northern border, the Pacific border, the Atlantic border, every border.”
