Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign, much like President Trump, loves to boast about crowd sizes.
Having attracted tens of thousands of people to a Presidents Day event, the Vermont senator and 2020 Democrat has some bragging rights.
A press release from the Sanders campaign claimed over 50,000 cumulatively attended rallies in five states from Saturday through Friday. In addition, over 4 million viewed the livestreams of the events online, the campaign said.
“Bernie has built a multiracial, multi-generational, people-driven movement for change that has broad support across the country,” Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir said in a written statement. “This is the kind of energy and excitement that will defeat Donald Trump in November and usher in the political revolution that this country badly needs.”
Turnout was bolstered by a number of supporter events that were held in North Carolina, Nevada, Colorado, California, and Washington. Celebrities such as Susan Sarandon and Danny Glover hosted events in North Carolina and South Carolina. And the crew campaigning for Sanders in Nevada ahead of Saturday’s caucuses included New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a doctor and former Michigan gubernatorial candidate, state Sen. Jessica Ramos of New York, labor activist Jose La Luz, and Missouri congressional candidate Cori Bush.
Political pros caution against reading too much into candidate crowd sizes, since they often distort actual Election Day support. But previous crowd size estimates by the Sanders campaign have been largely accurate, after attempts to verify them by the Washington Examiner.
The Sanders campaign often points to its crowd sizes, akin to President Trump in the 2016 campaign, as evidence that it has more energy than its rivals.
In October, Sanders held the largest rally of the campaign so far, in Queens, New York. Nearly 26,000 came out to hear speeches by Sanders, 78, liberal filmmaker Michael Moore, and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 30, which took place just weeks after the candidate suffered a heart attack.
