Applause surrounds the arena, the audience goes wild and everyone jumps out of their seats for Bernie Sanders.
Sanders visited the University of Utah on Sunday during his “Fighting Oligarchy” Tour. This tour has been everywhere from California to Colorado and just recently visited the U’s stomping grounds. It has been taking place since President Donald Trump’s term began in January.
The goal of this has been to “take on the Oligarchs and the corporate interests who have so much power and influence in this community,” according to the tour’s mission statement.
The Jon M. Huntsman Center reached full stadium capacity, 15,000, while there were even more spectators on the floor and outside on the arena’s outdoor overflow. The lines stretched around the arena as people sold merchandise and petitioners advocated for their causes. There were some members of the crowd who had been in line since the early hours of the morning.
“We were in L.A. yesterday at 36,000. While in many ways, the 20,000 you have out here today is more impressive,” Sanders said.
The event’s security had to turn people away and close the doors to the Huntsman center much earlier than anticipated.
With music to start, chants flowing through the air, the crowd created a unified environment, ready to hear the messages of Sanders and his companions. There were people of all ages in attendance, young and old.
Amongst Gen Z, Sanders is known for his crossed arms and wearing his cozy-looking mittens at former President Joe Biden’s inauguration in 2021, which spawned a meme. But Sanders is also a recognizable independent senator from Vermont. He served for 16 years in the House of Representatives, making him the longest serving independent member of Congress in U.S. history.
“We need a mass movement of millions of people,” Sanders said at the beginning of his speech, “We are living in the most dangerous moments of modern history of this country.”
Along with Sanders, other speakers joined him in sharing their powerful messages with the crowd, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, better known as AOC, who could potentially be a presidential candidate in the 2028 election.
Ocasio-Cortez shared the story of how she lost her father after a long battle with cancer, just as the 2008 housing crisis hit. Her family was suddenly stuck with a mortgage to pay on just her mother’s house cleaning salary. She began waitressing to help her family pay the bills.
“I hope that you see that this movement is not about partisan labels or purity tests, but it is about class solidarity,” Ocasio-Cortez said. She proudly told the crowd to take care of each other during the good and bad times of this movement and received a standing ovation in return.
Ocasio-Cortez is a democratic Congresswoman who serves in the House of Representatives, representing New York’s 14th Congressional District.
The crowd heard from Sarah Buck with Salt Lake Indivisible, Michael Alosi, a recently dismissed federal employee, Benjamin Jolley who runs an independent pharmacy and Utah politician Caroline Gleich.
Last year, Gleich, born and raised in Utah, ran for the open Utah Senate seat, but ended up losing the race to John Curtis. Gleich saidthat running for Senate was the scariest thing she had ever done.
“I ran because I saw our state and country going backwards,” Gleich said, “We have a message for them [current administration]. Our democracy is not for sale.”
Each speaker shared their own experiences, but they were all united in one unified message for the crowd: “It will never just be institutions and officials that uphold our democracy. It will always be the people, the masses,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
This statement was also clear in the messages of the other speakers, all which were enthusiastically received by the thousands in the arena.
“We want a government that represents all of us,” Sanders said, with roaring cheers echoing his claims through the Huntsman.
t.sorensen@dailyutahchronicle.com
j.menna@dailyutahchronicle.com
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