Good day and welcome to DKos Asheville. This is the weekly DKos Asheville Open Thread for Saturday, May 18th, 2019.
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“Now, I was told coming to North Carolina wouldn’t make much sense. It was a Republican state. Doesn’t look like that today,” Sanders said
Entire Rally below, links to shorter highlights in the rest of the diary.
Citizen Times
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The race to 2020 is in full swing tonight, and Western North Carolina got its first presidential candidate visit Friday.
Sen. Bernie Sanders made his pitch. But will he be president?
Sanders brought his 2020 presidential campaign to the mountains, appearing before a crowd of more than 3,000 at the Salvage Station in Asheville. The Vermont Democrat talked about issues like a $15 an hour minimum wage, climate change, cutting prescription drug costs and creating what he called real criminal justice reform.
At this point, Sanders is one of 23 Democratic hopefuls, the highest profile among them are Sanders and former vice president Joe Biden.
Why did Sanders begin his North Carolina run in Asheville?
Political experts said it's best to play to your strength, start with a bang and that's what Sanders did, because Asheville is considered Sanders' territory. Western Carolina University political science department head Chris Cooper said Sanders delivered what the crowd wanted in 2016 and landed himself a primary victory here against Hillary Clinton.
ASHEVILLE NC Citizen Times — In 2016, Bernie Sanders was Western North Carolina’s Democratic presidential favorite despite not setting foot in the mountains.
Nearly three years later, Sanders is trying to coax all the support he can from this part of the state as he tries to overcome a widely favored primary opponent. On May 17, he made the first stop of any candidate in WNC, speaking to an overflow crowd of about 2,100 at Salvage Station, a hip outdoor venue in the city's River Arts District yards from the French Broad River.
"I was told coming to North Carolina wouldn’t make much sense because it was a Republican state. Doesn’t look like that today," he told attendees who came by car, foot and bike.
More on the Bernie Sanders rally:
Thanks again, hope you can enjoy this lovely weather.