Bernie Sanders: ‘I Think We’re Going to Win Here in California’

CARSON, California —Bernie Sanders told a crowd of over 8,000 supporters Tuesday evening at Cal-State Dominguez Hills: “I think we’re going to win here in California.”

Sanders was speaking after winning the Oregon primary and falling just short of rival Hillary Clinton in the Kentucky primary.

“I am the only Democratic candidate who is guaranteed to beat Donald Trump,” Sanders said, noting that he must win in California on June 7 to do so.

Clinton, with an estimated 2,294 delegates, is less than 100 short of the 2,383 needed to win a majority and secure her party’s nomination for the presidency. She leads Sanders by almost 300 pledged delegates — i.e. delegates determined by the voters. However, she will have to rely on “superdelegates” — party insiders — to pass that threshold. Sanders has an estimated 1,523 delegates overall.

Actor Danny Glover introduced Sanders on Tuesday evening. He praised the Senator for his “audacity to tell the truth,”and urged those present to vote on June 7: “Every vote is a sign of the truth. Every vote is a commitment to the truth. And every vote is here to build a pulpit of real change.”

Sanders took the stage with his wife Jane in the Tennis Stadium at the StubHub Center on campus.

In the midst of his speech, he was notified that he had won the Oregon primary. Despite narrowly losing Kentucky and splitting the two contests, Sanders claimed victory Tuesday evening.

“Our job is to take on Wall Street, not to take their money,” Sanders said, criticizing Clinton for taking large checks for speaking engagements at some of the top firms on Wall Street. “I say now is the time to break them up,” he said of America’s big banks.

Sanders argued that he hails from America’s “working class,” and said. “I’ll be damned if I let the Republican Party win the votes of the working people.”

“It’s time for the wealthy to start paying their fair share of taxes,” he added.

Sanders also touched on environmental issues.

“We cannot continue to destroy nature, because when we destroy nature we destroy ourselves,” Sanders said, discussing his stance on the implications of climate change. “Climate change is real. It is cause by human activity.” He called for a “tax on carbon” in order to end reliance on fossil fuels.

Several unions were present on Tuesday evening to support Sanders. Terry Hill, 50, of Teamsters Local 630, said he drove down from Temecula to support Sanders and hear his speech.

JT, 28, a black photographer, said “compassion” is the most important quality in a presidential candidate, something he believes Sanders has more of than other candidates.

He told Breitbart News that while border security matters to him, he “is not for keeping someone out of a space. I’m not for borders but I am for protection.” He added: “If someone that’s not from here can do a better job than I can, I don’t have a problem with that.”

Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz