Bernie Sanders visits Coachella, Rancho Mirage; touts Green New Deal, immigration reform

Sam Metz , Ricardo Lopez | Palm Springs Desert Sun

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders kicked off his Southern California tour on Monday with visits to Coachella and Rancho Mirage, emphasizing his support for immigration reform and the "Green New Deal" as he courts voters ahead of California's Democratic presidential primary election on March 3.

Sanders has opened a campaign office in Coachella, and as the sun went down he addressed about 450 supporters in front of the building, which labor activist Cesar Chavez once rented while organizing for the United Farmworkers of America.

"At the very top of our list is the need for comprehensive immigration reform and a path toward citizenship," Sanders told the crowd. "On Day 1, we will repeal all of Trump's racist immigration executive orders and on Day 1, we will have an executive order that reestablishes the legal rights for 1.8 million young people and their parents in the DACA program."

The senator also touted his Green New Deal plan and said it was particularly crucial given California's recent severe weather events. "We have seen in California unprecedented droughts and wildfires that have brought so much destruction," he said, mentioning a recent visit to Paradise, the Northern California town hit hard by last year's Camp Fire.

Supporters erupted into a chant of "Si Se Puede!" or "Yes, we can!" as Sanders concluded his speech. After Coachella, Sanders headed to Rancho Mirage for a second campaign event.

In Rancho Mirage, Sanders hit familiar notes on income inequality, healthcare access, criminal justice and higher education and promised to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, including for the region's farmworkers and employees working at the 14 Amazon Fulfillment Centers in Riverside and San Bernardino County.

At one point, he told the audience that he didn't come to the Coachella Valley to solicit contributions at high price-tag fundraisers."Other candidates maybe come to Palm Springs or wherever and hold these fancy fundraisers for wealthy people and that's not what we do, I'm proud to tell you," he said.

In an earlier interview with The Desert Sun at the Rancho Mirage Amphitheater, just miles from where South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg held a ticketed fundraiser closed to the public and press last month, Sanders contrasted his approach with both Buttigieg and former Vice President Joe Biden. Sanders noted the average contribution to his campaign is $18.

"Let me make a guess. I may be wrong. Mr. Buttigieg, at his fundraiser here, his average contribution was probably more than $18 apiece."

"We are raising money in a very different way than Mr. Buttigieg and Joe Biden, and we're proud of that," he said. "We do not do what others do, go to wealthy people's homes and walk out with $120,000. That's a fundamental difference."

Coachella Mayor Steve Hernandez introduced Sanders at both events after endorsing him along with the entire Coachella city council including Megan Beaman Jacinto, Josie Gonzales, Emmanuel Martinez, and Philip Bautista.

He called Sanders "a driver of change who dares to speak up and act against the status quo."

"Tio Bernie, as we refer to him in Coachella, knows that it's time to create a new chapter in America," he said.

Dolores Vega, a 22-year-old Coachella resident who lives down the street from Sanders' new office, said Sanders' priorities resonated widely in the eastern Coachella Valley, which is majority Latino.

Vega is a graduate of an eastern Coachella Valley high school and is attending College of the Desert free of charge under a tuition program for local residents. She said she and other young voters she knows from the valley understand the benefits of Sanders' free higher education proposals.

"It's cool to see a candidate come to the eastern Coachella Valley — to come out and see the people they actually want to represent," she said.

The senator’s visit is part of his campaign’s push to win as many delegates as he can from California, which will send 494 to the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee next summer. Sanders, who campaigned in Cathedral City in 2016, is the first presidential candidate to hold public events in the Coachella Valley this election cycle.

The venues chosen for Sanders’ rallies reflect the Coachella Valley’s disparities —the kind that Sanders has a reputation for passionately denouncing.

The city of Coachella is 98% Latino and one of the valley's most economically depressed cities, while Rancho Mirage is 82% white and known for its golf courses and second homes. Democrats far outnumber Republicans in Coachella, while in Rancho Mirage, Democrats make up 40% of registered voters, to 37% for Republicans.

In Rancho Mirage, the lead guitarist for the Foo Fighters, Chris Shiflett, performed ahead of the evening rally at the Rancho Mirage Amphitheater, which was teeming with about 1,400 supporters, including Washington state snowbird Louise Freyman.

Freyman, who was attending her first Bernie Sanders rally, said she appreciated Sanders’s authenticity. “He’s the real deal,” she said, enjoying the appearance in a smaller venue like the amphitheater.

The rally opened with an Aztec blessing by Circulo Azteca Citlalonac. Sanders was introduced by Nina Hudson Turner, a former Ohio state senator and a national co-chair of Sanders' campaign. Turner energized the crowd, emphasizing Sanders' support for single-payer health care, quoting scripture and denouncing "a system that is rigged to its core" against minorities.

Sanders has "been on a justice journey for a very long time," she said. She added that Sanders was not interested in the support of "millionaires and billionaires" and does not have "fundraisers in wine cellars."

Sanders has said part of his campaign strategy includes reaching out to potential supporters who haven’t been a priority in presidential campaigns in the past. In 2016, only 3,500 of Coachella’s 44,500 residents voted in the presidential primary election.

Polls show Sanders in a tight battle for the California electorate with Biden, but the senator is leading among Latinos likely to participate in California’s upcoming presidential primary. Latinos make up 40% of the state’s population of 40 million.

A CNN poll released last week showed Sanders had 20% support among California voters, second to Biden's 21%, but within the margin of error.

A Latino Decisions poll released in November showed Sanders leading among Latino voters likely to vote in California's March primary with 31% support, ahead of Biden (23%) and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren (11%).

California Latinos like Aldo Lopez, a 41-year-old landscaper and Coachella native, believe candidates have overlooked communities like his in the past.

“We should be getting those candidates more often,” Lopez said, adding that he thinks Sanders’ visit is likely to boost local voter turnout.

He said he likes the Vermont senator’s message on the economy and believes he’s the best candidate to address the quality of jobs being created. Sanders has repeatedly called for higher-paying jobs under a Green New Deal.

Among other supporters who flocked to the Coachella rally was 83-year-old Guadalupe Carrizales, who attended with her daughter, Dora Bolsanos, a 59-year-old schoolteacher, and granddaughter Guadalupe Manriquez, 22.

Carrizales, who was active in the farmworker labor movement in the 1960s and 1970s, said she planned to vote for Sanders, citing his staunch support of the working class. Swaddled in a blanket, she said she wasn’t sure how long she’d stay at the rally because of the cold. But she said she planned to support Sanders regardless.

Bolsanos, meanwhile, is still undecided. She likes Biden and Warren, but said she was interested in hearing Sanders’ in-person pitch. His visit, she said, “sends a message he cares what is going on in our small town.”

She expressed anxiety that the Democratic race hasn’t yet produced a frontrunner whom the party can coalesce behind to beat Trump.

Sanders is scheduled to join Biden, Warren, Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, businessman Tom Steyer, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., on stage at the PBS NewsHour/Politico Democratic debate in Los Angeles on Thursday and will hold a town hall on the Green New Deal in Moreno Valley on Friday.

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated voter registration numbers. In Rancho Mirage, there are 4,249 registered Democrats, 3,915 registered Republicans and 2,237 voters registered without a party preference.

Sam Metz covers politics. Reach him at samuel.metz@desertsun.com or on Twitter @metzsam. Ricardo Lopez covers the eastern Coachella Valley. Reach him at ricardo.lopez@desertsun.com or on Twitter at @rljourno.