U.S. Sen. Sanders rallies in Lubbock of all places

By Matt Dotray / A-J Media
Posted Mar 10, 2018 at 7:44 PM

Excerpt:

Progressives on the Panhandle/South Plains hadn’t had a politically rally like what took place Saturday afternoon at the Lubbock Memorial Civic Center in a long time, if ever. It was a rally for local Democrats seeking election in 2018, and Our Revolution, a grassroots organization built on continuing the policy messages of U.S. Senator and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. Our Revolution must truly be taking this message everywhere, because 66 percent of Lubbock County voted for President Donald Trump in 2016. And 66 percent for a Republican candidate in West Texas is on the low side in recent years.

Sanders, a Vermont Independent, was in Lubbock to host the rally that drew a crowd well over the 1,000 person seating capacity. People weren’t turned away, but instead began lining the walls around the Civic Center’s banquet hall.

“I’m not here to tell you that I’m an expert on Texas, or Texas politics, because I am not,” Sanders said after praising the work Our Revolution Texas. “This I do know — when you have 4.5 million people in this great state who have no health insurance at all, and you’ve got a state government that does not want to expand Medicaid, when you have Senators who voted to end the Affordable Care Act, people in this state should not be voting Republican.”

“I have believed for a long time that the Democratic Party has not stood up as strong as it should for the working people of this country — we’re trying to change that,” Sanders said. “Our job is to do two things. Our job is to come up with an agenda, a progressive agenda, that speaks to the needs of working families. Our second task is to take that agenda to our friends and our neighborhoods and our family who have given up on the political process.”

http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/20180310/us-sen-sanders-rallies-in-lubbock-of-all-places