Among the 11 states holding a Democratic primary or caucus on Tuesday, Massachusetts has emerged as a battleground. Both Sanders and Hillary Clinton — as well as former president Bill Clinton — planned events in the state on Monday. This was Sanders’ second trip to Massachusetts in a week.

“I just wanted to see the person that I’m voting for,” Dan Sheehan, 20, of Pembroke, said nearly two hours before Sanders stood at a wooden podium near the middle of the room. “He’s the most, best honest candidate out there. He doesn’t have anything to hide.”

MILTON — Thousands of people stood in Milton High School’s sweltering gymnasium Monday night to hoot and holler for their presidential candidate of choice: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.


“I look around this crowd here tonight, and I think we’re going to win here in Massachusetts!” Sanders told the sign-waving crowd of 3,600 people. “Your state led the American Revolution. Now it’s time for your state to lead the political revolution!”

Hours before he arrived, a line of supporters snaked through the school’s parking lot looking like a crowd waiting for an amusement park ride — except voters had to step through metal detectors manned by the US Secret Service.

Sanders told the crowd that when he started his campaign, “People outside of New England didn’t really know who Bernie Sanders was.”

That has changed.

His insurgent campaign, with its calls for a “political revolution,” nearly beat Clinton in Iowa and trounced her in New Hampshire. He lost Nevada and South Carolina, but Sanders’ supporters in Milton Monday night said they are sticking with him as long as he’s in the race. And he said in an interview with the Globe that he’s not going anywhere until the Democratic convention this summer.

“The political revolution is happening,” he said. “Millions of people are beginning to become involved in politics. That was not the case previously.”


And while he told the crowd that winning Massachusetts was a sure thing, he was less resolute away from the camera flashes.

“We will see what happens tomorrow. I can’t predict,” he said in the interview. “But we think we have a chance to do well and win a number of states and do better than people think in other states.”

To the crowd, Sanders repeated the rallying cry of his campaign, rebuking a “corrupt campaign finance system” and “rigged economy.” He called for an increase in the minimum wage and criminal justice reform. He vowed to protect women’s reproductive rights. And listed the differences between himself and Clinton, including his not voting for the war in Iraq and not taking money from Wall Street. He also called her on her to release the transcripts of her paid speeches to Wall Street firms.

Sanders’ message has not resonated with black voters, a key Democratic voting block, in part because he is not well known in communities of color. The lack of familiarity is something, he said, his campaign is working diligently to rectify.

“We did very poorly in South Carolina, no ifs, buts, or maybes,” he said. “But we won the vote among people 29 years of age or younger, that’s black and white. What we have to do is get our message out, and the message is real reform of the criminal justice system and to create an economy that pays attention to the needs of working people in a way we’re not doing now.”


That message is exactly why Belinda McIlvaine, 40, of Milton, said she’s “feeling the Bern.” McIlvaine, who is black, said she knows numerous people of color who Sanders’ supporters as well.

“Hillary, her ad on BET, it is so condescending,” McIlvaine said, referring to Black Entertainment Television. “I believe African Americans are smarter than that. ”

Akilah Johnson can be reached at akilah.johnson@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @akjohnson1922.