Spirited turnout "shows the grass-roots support that Bernie has in the state,” says former State Rep. Aaron Regunberg, one of the event's organizers.

PROVIDENCE — In what was billed by organizers as “the first major organizing event in Rhode Island for any presidential campaign,” a rally for Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders drew a crowd of hundreds Saturday to the Columbus Theatre. Artist performances and speeches by community leaders and politicians from around the state filled a spirited afternoon.

Sanders, who has been campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire, did not attend the rally, although lifelike standing cutouts of the candidate drew many selfie-seeking supporters.

The size of the crowd and its demographic diversity “certainly shows the grassroots support that Bernie has in the state,” former Providence state representative Aaron Regunberg, one of the rally organizers, told The Journal. “It’s one of the reasons I endorse Bernie: He's the candidate that's in the best position to inspire, mobilize and build the kind of movement we're going to need to take on Donald Trump.”

That view was also expressed by Linda Ujifusa, a member of the Portsmouth Town Council and a 2016 Sanders delegate. Sanders won 23 state primaries four years ago, including Rhode Island, with Hillary Clinton taking 34 and going on to claim the Democratic nomination. Rhode Island will hold its 2020 presidential primary on April 28.

Sanders “is the most electable at this point,” Ujifusa said. “But also the reason I support him is I believe in his policies and his ability to bring this country together and do what's right for the 99 percent. He has such a long record, such a consistent record of policies, and no other candidate has that kind of record or courage of standing up to the powers-that-be.”

Saturday’s rally came three weeks before the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses, scheduled for Feb. 3, and a month before the crucial New Hampshire primary, which will be held Feb. 11. Rally organizers asked participants to volunteer for two trips by bus to New Hampshire, on Jan. 18 and Jan. 25, to canvass in neighborhoods for their candidate.

A Des Moines Register/CNN poll released Friday showed Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, the first choice of potential Iowa caucus-goers, with 20%, compared with 17% for Elizabeth Warren, Pete Buttigieg with 16%, and Joe Biden with 15%. In the fourth quarter of 2019, Sanders led all Democratic candidates in raising nearly $35 million, some $10 million more than Buttigieg and about $13 million more than Biden.

Rachel Miller, who sits on the Providence City Council, opened the rally with a fiery speech that drew repeated loud applause.

“We want to end corporate greed,” Miller said. “We want to hold corporations accountable for low-wage work, for poisoning the environment, for asking for and accepting millions in tax breaks and not honoring the labor of the people who make their profits.”

Miller called for “an end to immigration policies that tear families apart and incarcerate children … a green new deal, health care for all … racial justice.”

But one person alone cannot achieve all that, she said.

“It’s not going to be because we elect a president,” Miller said. “It’s going to be because we all stand together and fight together.”

Said Regunberg: “It’s not going to be an easy general election. Donald Trump has a sophisticated big-money machine. He's a master at turning hatred into votes. To beat that, we need someone who’s able to inspire millions of people to come together.”

Added Central Falls City Councilor Jonathan Acosta: “We’re here to finish what we started in 2016.”

— gwmiller@providencejournal.com

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On Twitter: @gwaynemiller