Sanders

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders speaking at the University of Massachusetts Amherst during his 2016 presidential campaign.

(Republican file photo)

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a leading figure in the fight for the identity of the post-Obama Democratic Party, will tout his progressive values at three sold-out speaking events in Boston on Friday.

The former presidential contender who led a failed but unexpectedly potent challenge to the Democrat's 2016 presidential nominee Hillary Clinton still commands "passionate support," a University of Massachusetts political science professor told

.

"The guy, who is not even a Democrat, is being treated like a rock star in deep-blue Kennedy Massachusetts, and it's because he is a rock star," Erin O'Brien, chairwoman of the UMass political science department, said. "It speaks to the vacuum that Hillary Clinton left. She never had the same kind of passionate support that Bernie Sanders had."

Sanders has remained in the spotlight as a leading critic of Donald Trump's administration's policies since the New York businessman's inauguration as president in January.

Healthcare, the environment, taxes, education and issues of economic fairness comprise some of the senator's main areas of interest and criticism for the current administration.

Most recently, Sanders called Trump's move to nix former President Obama's Clean Energy Plan in favor of preserving jobs in the coal industry rather than creating them in alternative energy "stupid and dangerous."

It is pathetic that the largest oil company in the world understands more about climate change than the president of the United States. https://t.co/5EPP05KNUE — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 29, 2017

In stark contrast to the administration's desired direction on healthcare, which failed when the American Health Care Act collapsed last week, Sanders has called for a public health insurance option to lower costs and improve Obamacare.

Now more than ever we need to recognize that health care is a right. People who can’t afford health care don’t deserve to die. — Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) March 27, 2017



Amid the AHCA crash and burn, a Fox News poll confirmed Sanders as the most popular political leader in the country, enjoying favorability of 61 percent and a relatively low unfavorability of 32 percent, according to The Hill.



The senator will first deliver a speech and take questions at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate at 2 p.m. in Dorchester.



Three-thousand five-hundred people have signed up to attend a later appearance by Sanders at the Orpheum Theatre in Downtown Crossing, where he and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren will share the stage.



An independent who formerly served as mayor of Burlington, Sanders was elected to Congress in 1991.



Between the two speaking engagements, Sanders plans to attend a sold-out book signing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.



The appearance is seen in part as a move to support Warren in her 2018 reelection campaign. Warren has been a frequent target of some media and polls indicate support for her in the Bay State is beginning to wane.



Following the presidential election in November, Sanders told the Associated Press he was "not ruling out anything" regarding another presidential run in 2020.