Bernie Sanders told voters in California that Hillary Clinton was “insulting” them by refusing to participate in a debate before the June 7th primary.
“I think it is a little bit insulting to the people of California, the largest state, that she will not have a conversation with me about how we fix our problems,” Sanders said during a Monday night rally in Santa Monica.
The Vermont senator’s comments come just hours after Clinton declined an invitation from FOX News to debate in California. The Sanders campaign accepted the invite the day it was issued, and has spent the past few weeks encouraging Clinton to debate in the major primary state.
“Democracy, and respect for the voters of California, would suggest that there should be a vigorous debate in which the voters may determine whose ideas they support,” Sanders said in a statement two hours before he took the stage Monday night. “I hope Secretary Clinton reconsiders her unfortunate decision to back away from her commitment to debate.”
The June 7th primary contest will prove crucial for Sanders, who is hundreds of pledged delegates behind Clinton and is pinning all of his campaign hopes on the large state.
Sanders’ goal is to upset Clinton in California and force a contested Democratic convention, but the RealClearPolitics polling average shows the former secretary of state with a nearly 10-point lead.
“I also would suggest that Secretary Clinton may want to be not quite so presumptuous about thinking that she is a certain winner,” Sanders wrote in the statement. “In the last several weeks, the people of Indiana, West Virginia and Oregon have suggested otherwise.”
