Elizabeth Murray

Free Press Staff Writer

Presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke outside his Burlington home on Sunday, reiterating his beliefs that the Democratic Party needs to transform to represent ordinary people and that Republican Donald Trump must be defeated in the general election.

Sanders' remarks came following a meeting with a few dozen close advisers and supporters from around the country, which lasted for several hours. Sanders walked outside of his New North End home with his wife, Jane O'Meara Sanders, other family members, and a group of his advisers to greet members of the local and national press.

A large group of neighbors, Burlington residents, and Sanders fans stood on the other side of the street, cheering for Sanders as he walked down his driveway and waved.

Sanders said the discussion Sunday was devoted to comparing notes about the campaign and talking about the future of the Democratic Party.

"What we need is a 50-state strategy, which engages people, young people, working people to stand up and run for school board, to run for city council, to run for state legislature, to revitalize American democracy at the local, state and federal level," Sanders said. "Demand that government starts listening to ordinary people rather than campaign contributors."

Sanders said he's meeting rival Hilary Clinton on Tuesday, the same day as the last primary, in Washington D.C. Clinton clinched the presumptive nominee title Tuesday after wins in California, New Jersey and elsewhere. Sanders said he is looking forward to hearing what Clinton has to say about some of the issues most important to voters.

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Responding to a question about to whether he will be a candidate after Washington D.C. primary, Sanders said, "We are taking this campaign and our ideas for a strong platform to transform the Democratic Party away from a party that spends far too much time raising money for wealthy people into a party which represents the grassroots of this country."

He added that he would be taking these ideas to the convention in Philadelphia in July.

As he said after meeting with President Obama earlier this week, Sanders spoke Sunday about his mission to defeat Trump.

"Donald Trump is running a campaign based on bigotry, which is hard to understand that can still be happening in the year 2016," Sanders said. "After all this party has gone through for hundreds of years trying to combat discrimination. ... It is not acceptable to me that he is running a campaign trying to demonize Mexicans and Muslims, women or African Americans. I will do everything I can, and I'm sure I'm speaking for everyone behind me, to see that he will be defeated."

Sanders said he and the group of advisers concluded that "political revolutions" — which he has called his campaign from the beginning — are not dependent on election days.

"This country faces enormous crises and we together are going to do our best to transform this country by bringing millions and millions of people into the political process," Sanders said. "If you ask me what I am most proud of in this campaign is we have begun doing just that."

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Contact Elizabeth Murray at 651-4835 or emurray@freepressmedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/LizMurraySMC.

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