2016 White House Hopeful Bernie Sanders To Hold Rally At LA Sports Arena
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Presidential hopefuls from both sides of the political aisle are set to visit Los Angeles this week.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, the populist Independent candidate from Vermont, is scheduled to speak Monday night at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena at a rally in support of his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
The 7 p.m. rally concludes a three-day West Coast swing for the 73-year-old Sanders, who if elected would be the nation's first Jewish president, as well as the first president to be an avowed socialist.
Campaign officials say Sanders will likely discuss getting "big money out of politics", dealing "with obscene wealth and income inequality", combating climate change, and making college education affordable.
His visit to the Southland comes after picking up his first major endorsement from the 185,000-member National Nurses United in Oakland, California.
It also follows an appearance over the weekend in Seattle where Sanders was blocked from speaking at an event by two protestors from the group Black Lives Matter.
Jack Pitney, politics expert at Claremont College, told KNX 1070 NEWSRADIO he doesn't expect similar disturbances at tonight's event.
"His supporters tend to be a little more mature - if elected he'd be the oldest person ever elected president - so I expect we're going to see a full crowd, but unless there's another disruption like the one we saw earlier, it should be a very orderly event," said Pitney.
Sanders is the first of three presidential candidates scheduled to be in the Los Angeles area in a two-day span: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is scheduled Tuesday to conduct a fundraiser in Long Beach on behalf of his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.
Also on Tuesday, Republican presidential hopeful and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is scheduled to speak at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley.
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