In a show of continued enthusiasm on the ground, Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders on Sunday drew more than 30,000 people to three rallies around Washington, a state key to his strategy for an improbable comeback against Hillary Clinton.
The senator from Vermont took the stage here 40 minutes late for his final event of the day, delayed by impromptu appearances before three separate overflow audiences that couldn’t fit into the room his campaign reserved at the convention center.
The scene was similar at earlier stops Sunday in Vancouver and in Seattle. In Seattle, Sanders addressed a crowd estimated at 5,500 people outside of an arena where he spoke to a crowd of more than 10,000 people inside the arena, offering his prescriptions to rebuild the middle class.
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“Please come out Saturday morning,” Sanders implored one of his audiences here, referencing the start time of the Washington caucuses. “Bring your friends, your neighbors, your uncles, your aunts.”
There was no shortage of enthusiasm Sunday as Sanders zipped around the state on his chartered jet, addressing the series of boisterous rallies and overflow audiences. In Vancouver, several people who waited outside in the drizzle held a sign reading “Jesus Would Vote for Bernie,” offering one of the more colorful expressions of support Sanders saw.
The crowd at Key Arena in Seattle was so large that it became impossible for the Secret Service to provide security checks in time for the venue to fill.
Even after the program was delayed by more than half an hour, about half of the upper deck remained unfilled. Yet an estimated 5,500 people waited outside to hear a separate address by Sanders, and another 1,500 left before he spoke, according to estimates by an official with the venue.
xThank you, Seattle! If every person here brings a friend and a family member out to vote, we will win on Saturday! pic.twitter.com/JfMSGsQARP
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 21, 2016