Sunday's death of former U.S. Rep. John Conyers, a Detroit Democrat who served for 53 years before resigning his seat in 2018, hung over a rally in Detroit where presidential candidate Bernie Sanders was cheered by a standing room only crowd at Cass Tech High School.

"When I was elected to Congress in 1990, I wanted to be on committees that had strong progressive leadership and John got me on those committees," Sanders said. "He was a champion of civil rights and the man most responsible for getting a national holiday for the late Martin Luther King Jr. And long before it was popular, he knew that health care is a human right."

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, the Detroit Democrat who took over Conyers' seat after the 2018 election, asked the crowd of more than 4,500 people for moment of silence for "our forever congressman."

"He never once wavered in fighting for us, fighting for civil rights and equality," she said.

After the moment, however, she offered her endorsement of Sander's candidacy. She joined two of the three remaining members of "The Squad," four liberal freshman Congresswomen of color who were elected in 2018 and immediately began shaking up the halls of Congress. U.S. Reps. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota endorsed Sanders last week.

Saying the nation deserves a leader with transformative solutions, who's not constrained by corporations or conventional wisdom, Tlaib offered her support to Sanders.

"We deserve someone who writes the damn bills," she said, parroting one of Sanders' signature lines. "We deserve Bernie Sanders."

Sanders returned the compliment.

More:U.S. Rep. John Conyers, civil rights icon and former dean of Congress, dies at 90

"What Rashida has been doing in less than one year is become a national figure, not just in standing up against the vulgarity and ugliness of Donald Trump, but she has taken on in a very forceful way, the greed and corruption of the economic establishment and stood up to the political establishment as well," he said.

Sanders has a good history in Michigan. He narrowly won the 2016 presidential primary in the state over Democrat Hillary Clinton, but went on to lose the nomination. In the 2020 campaign, he's been finishing second or third in most polls behind former Vice President Joe Biden and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren in Massachusetts.

"We need a new vision for American and that's what our campaign is about," he said. "The most important and significant opposition we face .. is the limitation to our imaginations.

"If you believe when we stand united, when we stand for justice and when we are prepared to take on the corporate elite, there is nothing we cannot accomplish," Sanders added.

The rally ended a long day for Sanders, touring Detroit with Tlaib, who dubbed the very deliberately chosen spots as the "Corporate Greed" tour of the city.

There was the Fort Street Bridge in an area of southwest Detroit that is home to Marathon Oil and then on to Little Caesar’s Arena. Both businesses got millions in tax incentives to locate or expand in the city.

And the final stop of the day before the rally was the Brightmoor Food Pantry on the far west side of the city, that is running out of bottled water because so many Detroiters are getting their water shut off by the city for non-payment of their bills.

“Here in this campaign, we hear the word socialism a lot. Well, what this is a perfect example of is socialism for billionaires, massive amounts of subsidies and tax breaks,” Sanders said, while visiting the Brightmoor pantry. “But for children, there's not enough money for a decent education and for poor people, there's not an ability to get clean drinking water.”

More:Tlaib takes Sanders on tour of 'corporate greed' in Detroit before rally

Standing across the street from Little Caesar’s Arena, which got more than $300 million in tax incentives, Sanders and Tlaib, a Detroit Democrat, heard from three Detroit students who started the Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan. The group of students pushed for fresh drinking water stations in the city’s schools when it was discovered that the water fountains were contaminated with lead.

“There are folks who look at these and point their fingers at these beautiful stadiums and say this is a rebirth,” Sanders said. “But they don’t talk about their kids not getting an education and coming down with asthma,” because of the polluted air they breathe.

While the day was all about visiting sites in Detroit that help illustrate his values and messages, Sanders also addressed the news of the day — the killing of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi by U.S. special forces.

He said it was a positive step, but also got in a dig at Trump.

“From my understanding, interestingly enough, is that the mission was accomplished with information supplied by the Kurds. And as we know, Trump has turned his back and betrayed the Kurds,” Sanders said. “That’s something that I think will have a negative impact not only in that region of the world, but in terms of our relationship with allies from one end of this planet to the other.”

Detroit rocker Jack White added energy to the already raucous rally, playing a set that included a cover of Bob Dylan's "License to Kill," switching the words up slightly, asking "Who's going to take away Trump's license to kill."

"Bernie is telling the truth," White said during a break. "You can trust him."

Oren Sampson, 61, of Detroit, said he believes Sanders has the strongest message of the Democratic candidates and has risen to the top of his list, but he's still looking at the field.

"I like what he says about trying to revolutionize the country as far as his ideals and values," he said. "But to tell you the truth, while I like what he's saying, I'm kind of conflicted with Elizabeth Warren and even some people like Sen. Cory Booker."

Sanders was the first political contribution for Lindsey Schad, 25, of Detroit.

"I love that he's been fighting for this his entire career and his message hasn't changed.," she said. "I truly believe that he has our best interests at heart, and he's going to fight for us."

She also likes Warren and secretly hopes that Sanders picks New York businessman Andrew Yang as his running mate.

Not everyone was impressed. Michigan Republican Party chairwoman Laura Cox took to twitter to criticize Sanders and Tlaib.

"With Medicare for all being the litmus test of 2020 Democrats, it’s a clear sign that next year’s election will come down to Freedom vs. Socialism," she tweeted.

Contact Kathleen Gray: kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.