The presidential campaign is heating up in Los Angeles, two weeks before voters head to the polls for the statewide primary. Bernie Sanders, after rallying thousands of supporters in Lincoln Heights, is heading to Santa Monica for another campaign event. Conan Nolan reports for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Monday, May 23, 2016.
Hours ahead of a pair of local fundraisers by Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton, her rival Bernie Sanders rallied thousands of supporters in Lincoln Heights on Monday, hammering his campaign themes of higher wages and an overhaul of campaign financing.
The Vermont senator told the crowd his grassroots campaign was going to carry him to victor in the June 7 California primary election.
"There are more delegates at stake in California, 475, than any other state in the country, and let me tell you something that many of you also know: We are going to win the state of California," Sanders said. "And we are going to win the state of California because by the end of this campaign here we are going to have rallies all over this state and speak personally in a grassroots way to over 200,000 people in California.
"That's what our campaign is about. It is a grassroots campaign, not a fancy campaign, and we are going to talk to the people of California about the issues of concern to the people of this state and the people of the United States of America."
Sanders hit heavily on issues of immigration reform, an end to deportations, protecting voting rights and boosting wages.
"In this country, if you work 40 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty," he said. "That is why I was so proud to work with the workers in the fast food industry who went out on strike from McDonalds and Burger King who stood up and told this nation they cannot make it on the starvation minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. They demanded, and I support a $15 an hour minimum wage — $15 an hour and the right to form a union."
Sanders will hold another rally at Santa Monica High School, with doors opening at 4 p.m. He was scheduled to appear at the Anaheim Convention Center on Tuesday.
Clinton and Sanders are visiting Southern California to rally voters just weeks ahead of the state's primary election.
Clinton will hold three events on Tuesday, her campaign announced during the weekend. The former first lady, New York senator and U.S. secretary of state will appear with Rep. Karen Bass for a discussion of foster care at the Community Coalition Tuesday morning at 8101 S. Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles.
Clinton will then appear at a labor rally at International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 11, at 6023 Garfield Ave. in Commerce. On Tuesday evening, she is scheduled to participate in an "organizing event" in the Johnson Family Practice Center at UC Riverside, at 900 University Ave.
That event will be open to the public.
Local
Get Los Angeles's latest local news on crime, entertainment, weather, schools, COVID, cost of living and more. Here's your go-to source for today's LA news.
Before Tuesday's events, Clinton will hold two Los Angeles-area fundraisers on Monday. Tickets for an early evening event at the home of Bryan Lourd and Bruce Bozzi are $2,700, according to an invitation obtained by City News Service. Individuals raising $10,000 will be co-hosts of the event and will have a photo taken with Clinton.
The maximum individual contribution under federal law for a candidate seeking his or her party's presidential nomination is $2,700.
Lourd is the managing partner of the Creative Artists Agency talent agency. Bozzi is a co-owner of The Palm restaurants chain. The event is also hosted by Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Vogue.
An evening fundraiser in Hancock Park will follow, with tickets priced at $1,000. Individuals raising $20,000 will have a photo taken with Clinton.
The Clinton campaign said details of additional events scheduled for Orange County, Salinas and San Jose on Wednesday and Thursday would be announced soon.
The trip will be Clinton's 12th to the Los Angeles area since declaring her candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination on April 12, 2015 and second this month. Clinton held 26 fundraisers during her previous visits, including two during her most recent visit on May 5.
Clinton's opponent for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Sanders, told thousands of supporters Sunday that he is the best choice to defeat Republican candidate Donald Trump in the November election. Sanders concluded a two-day campaign swing through San Diego County by speaking to an estimated 6,500 cheering fans at the Rancho Buena Vista High School stadium in Vista.
"I think the objective evidence is very clear that in virtually every national poll and every state poll, we defeat Trump by larger numbers than does Secretary Clinton," Sanders said to a roaring crowd. "So I say to every Democrat in this country and those delegates who are going to the convention in Philadelphia, if you want the strongest candidate to make sure that Trump does not become president, we are that campaign."
Sanders, a self-described socialist who would be the nation's first Jewish president, urged the crowd to vote for him in the June 7 California primary and to recruit others to do the same. It was his second public event in the San Diego area in two days. He appeared Saturday night at Kimball Park in National City.
Trump is scheduled to visit Anaheim later this week.
