Sanders Campaigns Across California on Memorial Day Weekend

Sen. Bernie Sanders hop-scotched around central and southern California on Memorial Day weekend, drawing out his supporters prior to the June 7 primary.

Sanders’ held major rallies north of L.A., in Santa Maria and Bakersfield on Saturday, and in Fresno on on Sunday, each of which drew thousands of cheering fans. He also went to Oakland, just outside San Francisco, on Monday.

Outside the rallies, his supporters — or  “Berners” as some of them call themselves — held local community events all over the Los Angeles area. The events included canvasing neighborhoods, phone banking, and community BBQs.

In Santa Monica and neighboring Venice, a group of volunteers held “Beach Bernstorm.” The group of volunteers set up four tables in locations between Santa Monica and Venice beaches. According to their website,

The goal of this Bernstorm is to sign up people for the GET OUT THE VOTE effort.
The beach should be crowded with people from all over Los Angeles. We want to engage them and invite them to volunteer next weekend to help GET OUT THE VOTE. We particularly are looking for Spanish speakers to volunteer.

At a phone banking event, volunteers were urged,

Join other volunteers in your area to make phone calls for Bernie. This is a great opportunity to meet other Bernie supporters, make calls to voters, and help make a big impact in our campaign for President. Please bring a laptop, phone, chargers, and any extra batteries you have.

The events included some aimed at minority groups in the Democratic party. They included “Asian American Multilingual Phone banking for Bernie,” and a BBQ in L.A. hosted by “Black Men for Bernie.” held a BBQ in Los Angeles.

The official Bernie Sanders’ event page says,

Join Black Men for Bernie and special guests for an exciting event at Banning Park. This is an opportunity to connect with other grassroots supporters and get the word out about the upcoming primary on June 7th. Don’t miss out on the fun and how to get involved in the last few days!

The campaign’s Latino outreach wing, held a canvasing event Monday night in Mission Hills, described “Unidos Con Bernie: Latino Bernstorm.” Over the weekend this same group held a small event with Bernie Sanders and local farm workers, and with Latino Business owners in Bakersfield.