GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- Bernie Sanders at a Grand Rapids rally on Sunday continued his calls for revolutionary change, but made the pitch to voters three days of Michigan’s primary that he is also well-positioned to take on President Donald Trump in the general election.

“Well, we’ve got news for Trump. We are going to beat him, because we are bringing the American people together,” Sanders told a cheering crowd gathered at Calder Plaza in Grand Rapids.

He brought Jesse Jackson, who recently endorsed him, to Michigan and said he aimed to build an all-inclusive ‘rainbow coalition’ as Jackson had strived to do in his presidential run years ago.

And he drew a line between Jackson’s efforts to break down racism and other barriers and the election of the last Democratic president, Barack Obama.

“If there was no Jesse Jackson, in my view, there would not have been a President Barack Obama,” Sanders says.

Michigan leaders including former gubernatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed, former UAW president Bob King and former Sen. Don Riegle Jr. spoke in support on Sanders ahead of the event.

“We need a candidate that can win. And Bernie Sanders, I’ve been through a lot of elections, he is our strongest candidate in November,” Riegle said.

In the crowd, many said they would vote for the nominee, whoever it was. But for many, Sanders was their first choice.

Alex Beecroft, who was at the rally with his kids, said that as a parent he sees the need for the drastic change Sanders is calling for.

“If it’s Biden, it’s just going to be more of the same,” he said.

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Sanders drew big applause with lines that advocated for gun control, marijuana legalization and his signature Medicare for All health care plan, which would replace the current health insurance system with universal coverage for all U.S. citizens. He also railed against corporations.

“The only way we win is when millions of people together stand up and fight for justice. When they say to the corporate elites, ‘sorry, this country belongs to all of us, not just the wealthy few,” Sanders said.

Sanders made the stop as part of a big weekend push ahead of Michigan’s primary on Tuesday. He stopped in Detroit, Flint and Dearborn earlier this weekend and has plans for an Ann Arbor rally tonight.

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Paul Baker, of Alpine Township, said he was glad Sanders came to Grand Rapids.

“I’m a progressive and I really want Bernie to be the nominee,” he said, although he said he would vote blue either way.

Samuel Kison, of Marcellus in Cass County, said he’s talked to a number of his friends who support Sanders but aren’t very political, otherwise. He thinks there’s a lot of that on the west side of the state.

“I do think that he has a lot of support here, even if it’s maybe hidden from the public eye sometimes,” Kison said.

He said he agreed with most of Sanders’ policies, and his election could be revolutionary. But if it came down to Biden as the nominee, “I would support him, but a little reluctantly.”

Sanders and others onstage urged Michiganders to get to the polls, because Michigan’s Tuesday primary is very important. In 1988, he said, Jackson won the primary here. In 2016, he won it.

“And on Tuesday, if we stick together, if we bring our friends out to vote, we’re going to win it again,” he said.