Sanders Holds Salt Lake City Rally Ahead Of Super Tuesday
Mar 2, 2020, 1:44 PM | Updated: 8:17 pm
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Thousands gathered at the Utah State Fairpark as Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders made his last-minute pitch for votes ahead of Utah’s first-ever Super Tuesday primary.
“Let’s vote, let’s win here in Utah, let us win the Democratic nomination, let us defeat Trump and let us transform this country,” Sanders said through loud bursts of cheering on Monday.
According to the latest Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll last week, Sanders led other Democratic hopefuls with 28% of likely Democratic voters in the state.
Pete Buttigieg, who ended his campaign over the weekend, had been polling in third at 18%, and it remained unclear Monday afternoon exactly where his support might go.
Sanders didn’t waste time at his Salt Lake City appearance before he hammered the incumbent.
“We must defeat Donald Trump, who is the most dangerous president in the modern history of this country,” Sanders said. “You understand that the United States cannot continue having as president somebody who is a pathological liar, and I think there are a lot of conservatives who understand that.”
Sanders didn’t shy away from any of his platform in the historically conservative state.
He pledged, if elected, to end cash bail, legalize marijuana and institute multiple gun safety measures.
On the issue of climate change, he said his administration “will believe in science,” to another burst of cheers.
Supporters began gathering before 6 a.m. Monday to be first in line.
The line is wrapping around the block for the Bernie Sanders rally in Salt Lake City with some people arriving here before 6:00 a.m. to be the first in line @KSL5TV #KSLTV #Utah pic.twitter.com/Do1K1HGx9J
— Andrew Adams (@AndrewAdamsKSL) March 2, 2020
By 10 a.m., the line had started wrapping around the block.
“I was so close to shaking his hand the first time — just this far away — and I remember that moment just kind of haunting me,” said supporter Jacob Roundy, who arrived around 7 a.m. “We want a chance to meet the guy, we want a chance to see what he says and I think it’ll be good!”
Hossein Nour said he was impressed to see so many people brave the chilly morning temperatures.
“That is amazing for all these people to come here, the young generation,” Nour said. “It’s great. I wish everybody would just join us here to see what he has to say.”
Small business owner Misti Titcomb said she felt Sanders was “for the real backbone of America.”
“We need to have that voice,” Titcomb said. “We’re all people just trying to make it, we’re good people. I actually have good core values, and I just feel like Bernie is the right move. This country needs to turn this around.”
