Bernie Sanders: ‘We’re Gonna Win This State, and Win it Big’

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) addressed thousands of ecstatic supporters at the Fresno Fairgrounds on Sunday evening, with an overflow crowd spilling outside the 5,000-seat Paul Paul Theater. His message: he expects to win the California primary.

“We’ve now won the primaries and caucuses in 20 states,” he said. Based on the turnouts that I have seen this week all over California, we’re gonna win this state, and win it big!” he told the crowd.

Breitbart News has predicted that Sanders, who has caught Hillary Clinton in recent polls, will likely win more pledged delegates on June 7, primarily by running up margins of victory in delegate-heavy urban congressional districts. However, if he continues his statewide surge, and wins rural districts, he could indeed win by a large margin — though Clinton’s lead in “superdelegates” — party officials with independent voting powers — will still provide her with more delegates from the state.

Sanders walked through many of his familiar talking points, from the injustice of economic inequality to the urgency of campaign finance reform. He also backed the right of farm workers to organize (a hot topic in the Central Valley, where workers are in fact struggling for the right not to organize). He also mocked Republican Donald Trump’s recent statement that “There is no drought” in California. Sanders quipped that “we don’t fully appreciate the genius of Donald Trump.”

Earlier in the day, Sanders staged a rally in the rural town of Visalia, a Central Valley town that Bill Clinton also visited earlier in the month as the two campaigns battle for votes among the region’s Latino workers and liberal stalwarts.

Sanders also made a stop in Delano, the historic home of the United Farm Workers (UFW), and the site of an historic hunger strike by Cesar Chavez. Though the UFW officially supports Clinton, many of its members are beginning to show support for Sanders.

Photo: File

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new e-book, Leadership Secrets of the Kings and Prophets: What the Bible’s Struggles Teach Us About Today, is on sale through Amazon Kindle Direct. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.