Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders finished his first swing through Iowa Saturday as an official Democratic presidential candidate. Instead of small and more intimate venues, the campaign held three rallies over the course of three days in the state which kicks off the presidential nominating process.
Sanders, an independent senator who caucuses with Democrats, told the crowd he thinks he has a good chance of winning the Democratic nomination in 2020. But he says he will strongly support whoever gets the nomination.
Sanders credited Iowa for jumpstarting his “political revolution”
“Iowa helped begin the political revolution.” Sanders told the crowd. “Now as we move to 2020, our job is to complete that revolution.”
Sanders says many of his ideas in the last cycle were dubbed too radical but now many of his fellow candidates are embracing them, like "Medicare for All".
“They are ideas that Democratic candidates from school board to president are campaigning on,” Sanders said. “Thank you, Iowa.”
While there a lot more candidates this cycle, teacher Jennifer Birkey, who drove from her home in Fort Dodge to see Sanders speak, says she’s backing the Vermont Senator – 100 percent.
“He’s not afraid to battle the big wigs,” Birkey says. “He’ll look the Koch brothers in the eye and tell them what he thinks.”
He also held rallies in Council Bluffs on Thursday night and Iowa City on Friday night.
