People started lining up at 7 a.m. yesterday to get into the Bernie Sanders rally in Manhattan's Washington Square Park. By the time the event started at 6 p.m., lines of supporters decked out in Bernie stickers and T-shirts snaked around the entire park. Cops blocked off all the surrounding streets and set up barricades to contain the crowds, which reached a record-breaking 27,000 people, according to the Sanders campaign.

The senator, who is trailing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, took the stage after 8 p.m. following performances by Vampire Weekend and the Dirty Projectors. Sanders started by telling the cheering crowd: "Jane and I left New York City when we were kids. It is great to be back. We have won seven out of the last eight caucuses and primaries, and when I look at an unbelievable crowd like this, I believe we're going to win here in New York."

Cosmopolitan.com talked to people who braved the crowds and lines to find out why they're feeling the Bern.

Melanie Rieders

Ada Vargas, 23

About a month ago, the day after I became a U.S. citizen, I got a Bernie Sanders tattoo. I have yet to discover a person with so much integrity and so much honesty that I really wish to embody forever. So, I wake up in the morning and maybe I'm tired, maybe I'm not feeling like going out and talking to someone about the things I believe are important, then I look at my arm and I'm like, "There's a 74-year-old man going to three different states on unchartered flights, sitting in the middle seat, giving impassioned speeches to thousands of people. I can get out of bed and make some phone calls." It's hugely motivating for me.

I actually quit my job to work with a group called the Bushwick Berners — a pro-Bernie group in Brooklyn — full-time because I was going to work, and doing Bernie stuff in the afternoons and evenings, and it was not enough time to give to something that I believe in so much.

Melanie Rieders

Kevin Harrington, 65

Bernie is the best candidate. I care about distribution of wealth, single-payer medical [insurance], and kids being able to go to college without being in debt the rest of their lives. I've haven't felt this strongly about a mainstream candidate since Eugene McCarthy in the '60s. This is the first candidate where I won't be voting against someone else. Last time I was voting against Mitt Romney. This time, I'm actually voting for Bernie.

Melanie Rieders

Phoenix Feeley, 36

Bernie is the only candidate who is supporting us. He's not an opportunist. He's not a greedy politician. He's here to make the world a better place not just in terms of helping people out but also the environment. I was really happy about Obama, but I wasn't this passionate. I think Obama did a great job, [but] I've had some qualms with him as well. Bernie is the first one I haven't had any qualms about.

Melanie Rieders

Nikola, 17

My politics almost exactly coincide with Bernie's. The biggest thing I agree with him on is universal health care. How come we're the only ones spending more than two times per capita as any other industrialized country? The Daily News is smearing Bernie on foreign policy experience — I mean, he was right on both Gulf Wars, he was right on Panama, he was right countless times on foreign policy. And he was right on trade deals! Hillary was wrong on trade deals, Benghazi, and the Iraq war.

Melanie Rieders

Katie Emerson, 29

He's maybe the most honest politician that I have ever encountered in my lifetime. And I don't think there's anybody better to run our country. I care about equal rights; I support his college education plans, making the wealthy pay their fair share of taxes. I agree with almost everything he stands for and he's never gone back on his word, and I think that's really rare and should be supported.

Melanie Rieders

Elena Clemente, 18

I really like Bernie's college plan because I just went through the whole process. It's so awful. My parents are working tons of jobs and I'm working to try to make it work, and I really think it should be free. It's not an option if you want to find a job. I want to be a veterinarian for large marine species, so I'm looking at 12 years of school!

Melanie Rieders

Emilia El Ammari, 32, Zade, 1, and Fatima

Emilia: I'm from Vermont and I interned for [Sanders] when I was in college in D.C. I've been a big, huge supporter my whole life. He's one of the few politicians who I really, truly respect for everything he's done for Vermont and this country. I care about health care and income inequality and his stance on international affairs. I care about what he's done for senior citizens in terms of pharmaceutical prices and health care, as well as his stance on education. He's really evening the playing field for all people. I'm an assistant principal, and I support teachers in low-income areas. I've seen the disparity my whole life, and I'm sick of it.

Zade: Bernie!

Fatima: I'm from Morocco, and I'm for Bernie because I think the whole world will benefit if he's elected.

Melanie Rieders

Ben Bacho, 31

I came out here to be part of history. I think college affordability and accessibility is really important, as well as keeping natural resources in the ground and just a thriving middle class. I feel like Hillary is too embedded in the political elite establishment, whereas Bernie has held fast to his convictions while in office for 22 years. He's tried and true. Having the public support behind him will do much good in helping him push through his policies, much like Obama did in the first 100 days after he got into office. When people come out as they will for Bernie, more Democrats will be elected to the House and Senate. Hillary has an enthusiasm gap, and I don't think people will turn out for her in the same way they would for Bernie.

MELANIE RIEDERS

Mike, 23, and Ross, 23

Ross: We're supporting the political revolution that Bernie is espousing. Honestly, he is the only candidate running that has not changed his mind. If you listen to speeches from him back in the '80s, he was still preaching the same values that he's preaching today. I care about his stance on the climate too.

Mike: Civil rights are so important too. Everyone needs to be treated equally, and Bernie seems to be the only one who is truly on board for that and he's been on board since day one. It takes a lot to throw away all of your privilege throughout your entire life, and I think he's done that. So, why not trust that guy to bring real change to this country?

Melanie Rieders

Diana Calle, 28

I truly believe in his message. I think he's been pretty consistent over the last 30-something years. I really believe he can change the economic inequality that's happening in this country right now. My family immigrated from Ecuador, so I care a lot about immigration issues. And economic equality: My parents are middle-class, but at this point, it's not even considered that anymore. I've seen them struggle, and what's happening now in this country with the 1 percent of the population, it's a disgrace.

Melanie Rieders

Nnamdi Oghedo, 28

Bernie has proved that it's possible to do the right thing. We've gotten to the point where if you're a nice person and you say you want to do the right thing, you're scoffed at. Nice people get trampled on and we've let that bleed into the policies of our country. We should be better to one another, and that's the fundamental basis of his campaign: We're all in this together.

Melanie Rieders

Nathan Riley, 73

I want Bernie to be president. I think he has the chance to get us out of the boxes we're in and really get the economy growing. He has some really new ideas about taxes and debt. Right now, the debt is sitting on our economy and preventing us from jumping forward. It's not only the poor who are suffering. The United States is like Gulliver tied down by all of these tiny knots. This is the most passion I've felt and I've been looking at presidents since Eisenhower and I've been voting since LBJ. I liked LBJ in '64 but not with this same fervor.

Melanie Rieders

Belle Savransky, 31, with Biet, 4, and Levon, 6 months

We're donating all of the money we're raising [with the lemonade stand] to the Sanders campaign. We're trying to bring our kids into it to teach them about giving. I love Bernie — I can't even put it into words. I have real hope for the first time that my children can grow up in a different country than I did and that we can really bring equality into every aspect of the country. I like his policies on health care, minimum wage, student loans. He'll be able to level the playing field so that wherever you come from, you can have a fantastically wonderful, happy, productive life.

Melanie Rieders

Emily, 34

We took the train in from Connecticut. I support Bernie 100 percent. He says everything that I would want to say if I was a politician. I believe in the $15 minimum wage and no fracking and no special interests in politics — we see where that's gotten us! He's so honest. He says what's on his mind. I would be settling for Hillary because I feel like she changes her mind based on what's going to get her the vote. Bernie cares about helping the people: He's a public servant, not a politician. I feel the Bern!

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Kate Storey Esquire Writer-at-Large Kate Storey is a Writer-at-Large for Esquire covering culture, politics, and style.

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