LOS ANGELES, California — Symone Sanders, the spokesperson for former Vice President Joe Biden, earned praise on social media Tuesday evening after tackling a protester during Biden’s Super Tuesday victory rally.
Two protesters waving anti-dairy signs burst onto the stage during Biden’s nationally televised address. Biden appeared shocked, and a shudder of fear went through the crowd of several hundred supporters at the event.
But campaign staffers sprang into action, and none more dramatically than Sanders, who tackled one of the demonstrators. Sanders’s tackle impressed people across the political spectrum, and inspired football references:
Sanders, whose tackling skills had previously been limited to cable news and the debate spin room, joked about it:
Also assisting her was Dr. Jill Biden, the candidate’s wife, who held off one of the protesters with an outstretched arm.
Though the moment was humorous, the confrontation was frightening enough to spark serious conversation about whether the remaining candidates in the race for the Democratic Party nomination should request Secret Service protection, a step typically taken only once one candidate emerges as the party’s frontrunner.
Of all the Democratic candidates, only Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has used heavy security at campaign events thus far. That did not protect him, however, from being rushed onstage by anti-dairy protesters last month as well.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.