Senator vows to win the state and the nomination and mocks Trump, who denied the drought, as ‘one of the great meteorologists of our age’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

With the bright California sun beating down on their faces, the 12,000 people gathered in a square in downtown Oakland heard Bernie Sanders make a bold prediction.

“I don’t want to add to secretary Clinton’s anxiety,” he shouted in a hoarse voice, “but if you promise not to tell her – we’re going to win here in California.”

The crowd, squinting in the sunshine, chanted “Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!”

The Vermont senator, his face ruddy from long days of intensive campaigning in the state, continued: “The pundits, in their infinite wisdom, said this would be a fringe campaign ... a year later, we have won primaries in 20 states.”

The speech was briefly interrupted when several people, apparently animal rights activists, rushed the stage. They were taken into custody by the secret service. “We don’t get intimidated easily,” Sanders said when he resumed speaking.

The pragmatic progressive: what sets Obama apart from Bernie Sanders Read more

Sanders has been on a punishing schedule of campaigning across California in the last week, speaking to large and ebullient crowds in packed rallies up and down the state. Hillary Clinton, because of the more than 500 super-delegates who have pledged to her campaign, is thought to have the nomination almost locked down – but a big win in California for Sanders would be a serious problem for Clinton.

Sanders, in Oakland, radiated confidence. “We will go into the convention with a great deal of momentum,” he said, “and we will come out with the nomination.”

“The point I will be making to the Democratic National Convention is that in virtually every single poll, we do better against Donald Trump than Secretary Clinton. So if we want a campaign that will make sure the disaster that is Donald Trump does not become president – we are that campaign.”

Earlier, at a community conversation event at a baptist church in East Oakland, Sanders hit out at the presumptive Republican nominee, who recently said at an event in Fresno that “there is no drought” in the drought-stricken state, saying instead that state officials were denying water to farmers so they can send it out to sea “to protect a certain kind of three-inch fish”.

Speaking to community members at the Allen Temple church, Sanders mocked Trump for his comments.

“Donald Trump has come to California and has, with his profound wisdom, told you that there is no drought,” Sanders said, prompting both boos and laughter from the crowd at the church.

He called Trump, with acid sarcasm, “one of the great meteorologists of our age”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bernie Sanders looks as supporters wish him and his wife a happy wedding anniversary at a campaign rally in Santa Barbara. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters

He also struck out at Clinton over her position on the Puerto Rican economic crisis.

“As has happened many times before, Secretary Clinton has changed her mind and is inching closer to positions I have taken,” Sanders said in a press release, “but what she says only days before election day in Puerto Rico is too little, too late.”

Volunteers have told the Guardian that the Sanders campaign plans to “leave it all out on the field” in the Golden State, despite the claim from the critics that Clinton’s commanding lead among super delegates makes an outright victory for Sanders impossible.

In recent weeks Sanders has been rapidly closing the gap between himself and the former secretary of state, with recent polls putting Sanders well within the margin of error for victory in California.

Jeff Weaver, Sanders’ campaign manager, has told the Guardian that this kind of intensive campaigning by Sanders – the punishing schedules of huge rallies, turning out 10, 15, and even 20,000 people at dozens of appearances across the state – can make a huge difference here.

“He has the capacity to move voters just by his presence at these large events,” Weaver said.

In Oakland, Sanders reiterated his economic message. “I have seen the empty lots and abandoned storefronts all over this country,” he said in the Allen Temple church. “Don’t think Oakland is alone.”