Long Beach became the home for presidential hopefuls last Saturday, with eight Democratic candidates included in the Real America forum hosted by Univision.
The forum was mostly dominated by conversations on immigration and gun reform, with the recent mass shooting in Saugus High School.
Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Tom Steyer, Andrew Yang, and Bernie Sanders all took the stage for the forum.
Along with the forum, Deval Patrick, the newest candidate in the presidential race, made his debut on the stage of the Long Beach Arena in front of a large group of voters.
The former governor of Massachusetts assured voters on stage that his skills of being governor was enough to prove that he can take the nation to the right place after President Trump.
Still with the absence of the top two leading Democratic candidates, Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren, supporters from both still flooded the Long Beach Convention Center.
This is the first time that Long Beach hosted the Fall Endorsing Convention, and Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia took that as a huge accomplishment for the city.
“Only 10 years ago this city was much more conservative place,” Garcia said. “Today this city is leading the city in climate protection, economic justice, rights for workers, and protecting uplifting women, immigrants, and the LGBTQ community.”
“All the conversations today will only take us forward, every candidate has their respective place and every candidate can lead us,” Garcia told the Viking News
During the general session on Saturday, the politician who received the most responses from the large crowd of voters is currently leading the impeachment inquiry into Trump, Rep. Adam Schiff.
“You will forgive me if I’m a bit exhausted. It’s been an eventful week,” Schiff said. “Our democracy is at risk, more so now than any time in my life … The greatest threat to our democracy comes from within: a president without ethical compass. There is nothing more dangerous than an unethical president who believes he is above the law.”
Another politician who made their mark and was not scheduled to speak, Rep. Maxine Waters made a surprise appearance on Saturday’s general session.
“I told you we had to impeach this deplorable human being,” Waters said on stage. “I want you to know that we got a chance in this fight.”
“It it sad but it has to be known to everybody here that this fight in the impeachment is not over and there’s a fighting chance,” Waters told The Viking News.
December 19 will mark the sixth Democratic debate, and will take place at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.
To see more photos, check out our full photo gallery of the Democratic convention.