I want to tell you about a very exciting trip that I took last weekend to Texas and Arizona. That follows the trip we took several weeks ago to Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan. Of these six states, Trump won five. And, in Illinois, where Trump lost, progressives are taking on the old and moribund Democratic machine.
The very good news is: the political revolution is on the move, not only in progressive states but in conservative areas as well. You have heard me say it a million times. This country will not change if the Democratic Party continues to ignore half the states in this country, including some of the poorest.
We're not going to transform the politics of the United States by just doing fundraisers with wealthy people in New York and California or starting Super PACs funded by special interests. We have got to take the fight for economic, social, racial and environmental justice to every county in every state in this country.
And the good news is that is exactly what is beginning to happen. This year, there are more candidates than ever on the ballot - in progressive and conservative areas - who support Medicare for all, free tuition at public colleges and universities, a $15 minimum wage, gun safety legislation and our entire progressive agenda.
In many instances, these candidates are fighting against a political establishment that tells them they cannot win running on a progressive agenda, and they are fighting against a financial elite who will spend anything to stop them. We should work as hard as we can to elect those candidates, and I intend to - just as I did this past weekend. But I cannot do it alone. So I have to ask:
That's what the political revolution is about and that's what, with your support, we're doing. And, trust me, it's not me alone. Hundreds of volunteers helped on this trip and I spoke alongside of great progressives like Jim Hightower of Texas and Nina Turner, the national president of Our Revolution.
Do you want to hear about success? In Texas earlier last week, progressive candidates have either won or advanced to runoffs in 19 out of 27 races that were contested, and voter turnout shot way up statewide.
On our visit to Texas we had thousands of people come out in San Antonio and Lubbock. Yes. In Lubbock, one of the most conservative areas in Texas, where Trump won 2-1, we had a standing room only crowd of 1,300. This is a place where the Democratic Party is incredibly weak and where the local newspaper claimed no progressive rally like ours had taken place in a "long time, if ever."
(The massive crowd at the rally in San Antonio, Texas)
In Lubbock, 46 percent of the population is Latino or African American and the overwhelming majority of the community is poor or working class. Yet like in many other rural parts of the country, the Democratic Party has conceded the area and right-wing Republicans keep winning. That's pathetic, and we're in the process of changing that.
And what was our message in Trump country? It was that the political pundits are wrong when they say there are "blue states" like Vermont, "red states" like Texas, and "purple states" like Arizona, and that we need to be "realistic" in our goals because there are big differences between them all.
(Bernie takes a moment to thank some volunteers in Lubbock, Texas)
Well, I don't believe that for a second and neither should you. I believe that in every state in this country, working people are struggling. There must be - and there will be - a progressive government that fights for all of us, not just the 1 percent.
Because no matter where you live, the vast majority of people don't believe in a Republican agenda that provides huge tax breaks to billionaires while cutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
No matter where you live, the vast majority of the people understand that in the wealthiest country in the history of the world people should not be forced to work two or three jobs to pay the bills because we have a national minimum wage of $7.25 an hour - a starvation wage. They also understand that women should not be earning 80 percent or less of what men make for doing the same work.
No matter where you live, we all get sick, we all have accidents and we all need health care. And we now see a growing majority in this country who understand that health care is a right, not a privilege. We also see more and more people who want a Medicare-for-all, single-payer system.
No matter where you live, the majority of people understand that is is insane and counterproductive to the best interests of our country that hundreds of thousands of bright people cannot afford to go to college and that millions of others leave school with a mountain of debt that burdens them for decades.
No matter where you live, more and more Americans, including gun owners, understand that we need to do everything possible to end the unspeakable level of gun violence that is currently taking place. They know that, no matter what the NRA thinks, we need to pass commonsense gun safety legislation which keeps guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.
(A huge turnout for Bernie at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, Arizona)
The final stop of our trip was Phoenix, Arizona. When I arrived on Saturday evening a young women working at the hotel I was staying at told me something that should shock and disgust you. In 2016, she waited in line for seven hours to vote in Arizona. Imagine that - seven hours in line to participate in our democracy. That she waited seven hours in line to vote for me was extremely humbling. But what about all those who couldn't wait, because of their families or their jobs? Every one of us should work to end voter suppression in Arizona and many other states across the country. We need a vigorous democracy in which every single person can participate in our electoral process.
At our rally the next day thousands of people came out to talk about the importance of comprehensive immigration reform that is based on justice, not racism; the urgent need to ensure health care is a right for every man, woman and child in this country; and the importance of energizing and electing progressives in Arizona and all across the country in 2018.
(And the overflow crowd outside the event in Phoenix, Arizona)
We can elect progressives in Arizona in 2018. We can elect them in Texas as well. We can elect them in New York and North Dakota, Mississippi, Kansas, South Carolina and Idaho.
And we must. Because the continued decline of the middle class, grotesque levels of income and wealth inequality, disastrous trade policies and an inadequate educational system affect all of us.
This year, I am going to campaign hard to elect progressives in communities Democrats have long written off. But I cannot do it alone. I need your help to make it happen:
We are at a critical moment for the future of the Democratic Party, and for our country. As progressives we are making progress, but much more needs to be done. Trump is trying to divide our country up through racism, bigotry and xenophobia. We are bringing people together in the fight for justice and dignity for all.
Thank you for your support in realizing that goal.
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
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