Hello all! I missed posting the event before it started so if you click the video you may have to drag the cursor to star the video from the beginning….

Bernie Sanders holds rally in East L.A. as part of his outreach to young Latinos

Juvenal “Juve” Quintana was never really into politics until he learned about Bernie Sanders’ first presidential campaign.

In 2016, Quintana heard the Vermont senator’s talk of providing everyone with health insurance and thought that would help Latinos in his hometown of Modesto, but he didn’t think they were getting the message from Spanish-language media. So Quintana, the lead singer of Grupo La Meta, wrote a ballad: “El Quemazón,” or “The Bern.”

“He’s the man with a vision to better this country,” the corrido begins, in Spanish. “Bernie Sanders is his name. Now you’re going to feel his burn.” Quintana’s song has had hundreds of thousands of views since then, and the message still stands, he said in an interview.

“Bernie’s talking about the same exact things that I wrote about in 2016,” said Quintana, 30. “I’m 100% for Bernie. I feel like he’s the candidate who will listen.

Young Latinos like Quintana were strong supporters of Sanders in 2016, and the candidate is reaching out to them again in hopes they can help him capture primaries nationwide, and particularly California’s March 3 Democratic contest. On Saturday, Sanders held a raucus rally in predominantly Latino East L.A.

“I come to you today as the proud son of an immigrant, and virtually everybody out here are the proud sons and daughters of immigrants,” Sanders said at the rally. “And we are sick and tired of the demonization of the immigrant community.”

The Sanders campaign debuted its first California office in East L.A. and opened another in the Central Valley, an area overlooked in past campaigns but where Democratic candidates this year are looking to capitalize on increasing diversity. Sanders had planned tours at colleges in Fresno and Bakersfield, but had to cancel after he suffered a heart attack; he stopped in Fresno on Friday. Outreach to Latinos has been integrated into the campaign since the start, for instance in the form of senior Latino staff and bilingual ads, said Chuck Rocha, a senior advisor with the campaign.

“There’s lots of Latinos in California, there’s lots of working-class young people, and working-class voters and lots of folks who have a history of standing up against power,” said Rocha. “Bernie Sanders is their candidate, and all we have to do is give them the tools to be reminded of when to vote and where he stands on the issues and they will show up.”

Bernie Sanders makes big investment in California ground game, leading his presidential rivals

With a rapidly growing campaign staff and a big investment in infrastructure, Bernie Sanders is going all in on the California ground game.

The Vermont senator’s campaign has opened five offices in California — far more than top rivals Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, who have two each, and former Vice President Joe Biden, who hasn’t opened one. Sanders’ staff says they plan to set up at least 10 more offices by the end of the year and already have hired 40 full-time paid staffers in the state.

“We’re going to be running a ground game up and down the state of California like we’re Iowa,” said Jane Kim, Sanders’ California political director, in an interview at the opening party for the campaign’s new San Francisco office on Thursday. “We already have the biggest organization here, and it’s going to exponentially grow.”

It’s a potentially risky bet: Statewide campaigns here traditionally rely more on TV ads than knocking on doors to reach California’s millions of far-flung voters, in contrast to smaller states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. Sanders has also opened offices in East Los Angeles, San Diego, Fresno and Riverside — the latter two cities far off the typical itinerary for presidential contenders, but a sign of his campaign’s focus on growing the Latino base Sanders cultivated in 2016.

California election polls have shown Sanders narrowly trailing Warren and Biden but leading among young and Latino voters. Those groups have lagged in turnout in past elections, which means a large organizing campaign here could be especially helpful in driving his supporters to cast their vote.

“It’s a really smart investment for Sanders specifically,” said Mike Madrid, a GOP campaign strategist in Sacramento and an expert in California’s Latino vote. “Of all the candidates that could build a big organization here, he’s probably the one who would yield the biggest return.”

With just over 100 days before California’s March 3 primary — and even less before mail-in ballots start going out on Feb. 3 — the top campaigns are starting to build out their Golden State teams. Several presidential hopefuls are descending on Long Beach this weekend for the state Democratic convention, although Biden and Warren are sitting it out.

Bernie has a message for the billionaire class at this massive rally in East LA. #BernieInEastLA #Bernie2020 pic.twitter.com/muQ7KUeYhb

— Danny C (@BodyPolitic2019) November 16, 2019

Sen. Bernie Sanders Endorses California’s Rental Affordability Act

Housing Is A Human Right (HHR), the housing advocacy division of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is honored to receive the endorsement of presidential candidate and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, for the Rental Affordability Act.

The Rental Affordability Act would expand the possibility of rent control for up to 13 million Californians.

As the state suffers through a historic housing affordability and homelessness crisis, the RAA offers a path to keeping families in their homes and protecting renters from speculative Wall St. landlords, who see housing as an investment and a tool for limitless profit.

“We look forward to working with Senator Sanders on advocating for the passage of the Rental Affordability Act next November,” said Campaign Director, René Christian Moya. “For his entire career, Bernie has stood up for working people, and he’s been a stalwart advocate for the expansion of rent control laws nationwide on his presidential campaign.”

“I strongly support the Rental Affordability Act,” said Senator Sanders. “This initiative will allow California cities to pass sensible limits on rent increases and protect families, seniors and veterans from skyrocketing rents. I was born and raised in a three-and-a-half room rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn, New York. That most minimal form of economic security was crucial for our family, but today that type of economic security does not exist for millions of Americans. That has got to change.”

“We thank Senator Sanders for his endorsement of the Rental Affordability Act and for recognizing the importance of this ballot measure as a practical means to address housing affordability, one of the most important social justice issues of our day,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AHF.

One-on-one with Bernie Sanders”

Breaking:

Bernie rally in LA draws embarrassingly small crowd of 18 people.

Should he drop out? Our experts think so. We discuss next. pic.twitter.com/0xvtjIpyU6

— CNM (@CNMneews) November 16, 2019

The band is vocal about social justice issues, including the fight for workers’ rights and peace amongst people, cultures and nations. @Ozomatli #PoliticalRevolution https://t.co/cWy5yG18U9

— Our Revolution (@OurRevolution) November 15, 2019

We're not only going to beat Trump. We're going to transform the country into one that works for working people and not just the top 1%. Join us live in Eastside LA: https://t.co/VAI6wRdeYF

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 16, 2019