On his long road to 2020, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders rallied in Long Beach for the first time ever to not only discuss the most recent mass shootings but to remind everyone about his pitch against Republican leaders and the one percent.
With the most relevant topic in the world still being the most recent mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio and El Paso, Texas, Sanders reiterated an action he made earlier this week, to ban sales of assault weapons and to have a more extensive background check.
“Everybody here as seen and heard and have been entirely demoralized by the tragedies we have seen,” Sanders said.
“These are not radical proposals. This is what the American people want.”
However, this Long Beach rally did not come without its own alerting scare.
On Monday, a man was arrested after he made alarming threats against the rally in Long Beach.
Jose Rafael Guzman was arrested in Huntington Park for suspicion of criminal threats and threatening a public officer.
Authorities believed that Guzman was not a serious threat, Guzman has since been released on $50,000 bail, Sanders did not bring up the threat during the rally.
Nonetheless the threat, the south-east side of Long Beach City College was completely wrapped with Sanders supporters on Tuesday evening, with a reported 5,390 in attendance.
Mary Anderson, a mother of two children, still attended the event nevertheless the threats.
“Before we knew about the threat, my family and I was attending for sure, because it’s quite rare that a presidential candidate stops by my hometown of Long Beach,” Anderson said.
“But when we heard about the threat this morning on the news, me and my husband had a conversation on whether we should go now, but we came to the conclusion that a public rally in a college would be among a safe place to go.”
Along with Guzman’s threat and the recent mass shootings, police ramped up patrols for the rally.
The Senator from Vermont spent close to an hour on stage, finishing his day that included a town hall meeting in Los Angeles, visits to homeless services in LA, and an appearance on the Joe Rogan podcast.
To introduce the presidential candidate, Long Beach City College’s Board of Trustees president Vivian Malauulu welcomed Sanders to LBCC.
“Bernie gets it. I am a wife, and I am a mom,” Malauulu said while tearing up.
Malauulu was recently promoted to become the Board of Trustees president, and was counting down the days for Sander’s arrival.
“This is simply one of those moments I’m going to look back on and just smile,” Malauulu said.
With Sander’s appearance at Long Beach City College, it didn’t take long for him to mention his proposal of free tuition if elected President.
“It is something that everyone in this country deserves. A good education,” Sanders said.
For Bernie Sanders, this won’t be his last and only stop in Long Beach, this Nov., Long Beach will host the California Democratic Convention.
Along with the other Democratic presidential candidates, Sanders will stop by Long Beach once again on Nov. 15-17 at the Long Beach Arena.