Conspicuously absent from the Bernie Sanders rallies held Monday in San Diego: Bernie Sanders.

With the New Hampshire primary just hours away, this candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination was canvassing the Granite State, not the Golden State. But his absence really didn’t matter, insisted Phillip Agnew, the campaign’s designated national surrogate, who spoke to an audience of about 40 people gathered inside Sanders’ Barrio Logan office Monday.

“Actually, it’s not about Bernie,” Agnew said. “It’s about us! Us!”

Agnew is launching a three-day swing through Southern California on behalf of Sanders this week. He spoke Monday morning at UC San Diego and then made a noon appearance at the campaign’s Barrio Logan office. The Vermont senator — in person and via stand-ins — is making a strong pitch for the student vote, with a platform that calls for the cancellation of student loan debt and the elimination of tuition at public colleges and universities.


“College students support Senator Sanders at the highest rate of any candidate,” said Agnew, 34, who wore a black hoodie emblazoned with the message “Accept No (L)imitations.” “There is no college that we are leaving unvisited, uncommunicated with.”

Still, Agnew stressed, the self-described democratic socialist has broad appeal on- and off-campus. The candidate’s multi-racial and multi-generational coalition, he said, will help him carry California in the March 3 primary.

“This is one of the states that is a clear indication of the strength of the strength of our movement,” Agnew said.

In Barrio Logan, the audience ranged from recent college graduates like Nikayla Jefferson, 23, a climate activist with the Sunrise Movement — “Vote for hope! Vote for the Green New Deal! Vote for Bernie!” — to Kim Gilden, a 50-something Rancho Bernardo resident.


“My main worry is how can we get Trump out; who can defeat him?” Gilden said. “I think Bernie has the best shot at that, and I really like his ideas.

“Bernie just kind of inspires me — and the people who support Bernie, especially the young people, I’m inspired by them.”

When Gilden arrived at the Barrio Logan event, she was undecided. “I like a lot of the Democratic candidates,” she said.

When she left, though, her lapel held a “Bernie 2020" button.


Agnew and another Sanders surrogate are scheduled to visit churches and colleges in Riverside, Fullerton, Los Angeles and Bakersfield this week.