The big crowds that Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is drawing at rallies are just one sign of the enthusiasm that seems to be building around the candidate.

Consider Lynn and Andy Nilssen, Siesta Key residents who spent a hot and humid summer morning standing on a sidewalk outside the Siesta Farmer’s Market soliciting support for Sanders, a U.S. senator from Vermont, last week.

The farmer’s market foot traffic is light this time of year and the sun was withering, but the Nilssens were happy to be there. They wore bright white T-shirts bearing the blue and red “Bernie for President” logo, passed out campaign brochures and signed up volunteers.

“He doesn’t worry about offending large corporate donors because he doesn’t have any,” Lynn Nilssen said when asked why she was giving up her Sunday morning and braving Florida’s scorching summer weather to volunteer for a candidate widely considered a longshot to win the Democratic nomination. “He can speak the truth; that’s why he’s got so much grassroots support.”

The crowded Republican presidential primary is generating more attention, but people such as the Nilssens are determined to make the Democratic contest more than just a coronation for Hillary Clinton. Sanders’ supporters have organized more than 1,500 house parties and other gatherings across the country to fire up volunteers, including 11 events in Sarasota and Manatee counties.

Clinton supporters are active in the region, too. Sarasota real estate agent Helen Magill hosted roughly 50 people at a recent house party aimed at organizing volunteers to campaign for the former first lady, U.S. senator and secretary of state.

Magill said Sanders may have more enthusiastic supporters, but Clinton is the stronger candidate.

“I’m interested in getting somebody who’s electable,” she said. “As much as I love Bernie I do not feel he’s electable.”

Still, Sanders is gaining momentum. More than 11,000 people attended a Sanders rally in Phoenix last week, the latest in a string of events drawing sizable crowds.

Lynn Nilssen, a real estate agent who spent time as the political chair for the local chapter of the Sierra Club and has volunteered on campaigns for various Democrats, likes what Sanders has to say about expanding the social safety net and reducing inequality.

How the candidate’s socialist views — he wants to expand Medicare to everyone, offer increased childcare benefits and implement other programs that likely would result in higher taxes — will be perceived by more moderate voters is a concern, Nilssen said, but she believes he is convincing enough to win people over.

“I do think he has a shot,” she said.

Buchanan’s district

State lawmakers announced last week that they will head back to Tallahassee on Aug. 10 for a 12-day special session to comply with the Florida Supreme Court’s mandate to redraw eight congressional districts ruled unconstitutional.

The upcoming map changes have some members of Congress nervous about winning reelection, but not U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan.

The Longboat Key Republican already has a fairly compact district with logical borders that encompass nearly all of Sarasota and Manatee counties. Buchanan’s 16th District is not one of the eight ruled unconstitutional, but still could be affected because neighboring districts to the north must be redrawn.

“If anything we get pushed south a little bit, but I don’t think much,” Buchanan said. “I think we end up pretty much where we’re at.”

Buchanan added that his district seems to be “exactly” what those pushing the 2010 anti-gerrymandering amendment to the state constitution had in mind.

“They wanted something that made sense,” he said.

Guns on campus

Rep. Greg Steube, R-Sarasota, is an outspoken advocate for doing away with gun-free school zones, filing bills to allow certain individuals to carry firearms in a range of educational settings.

So it’s no surprise that the first bill Steube filed for the 2016 legislative session, and one of the first submitted by any lawmaker, is his failed attempt from last year to repeal a provision in state law that bans carrying concealed weapons on college campuses.

Steube’s bill drew criticism from campus police chiefs, the Florida State University student government and gun control groups, while the National Rifle Association and other gun rights groups supported it.

“Law abiding citizens should have the ability to defend themselves and that right to defend themselves shouldn’t stop just because they’re on a college campus,” Steube said.