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Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, took the stage on Monday night to the roar of applause, cheers and feet stomping in the bleachers at the jam-packed Ford Idaho Center. The Nampa event was the 12th stop on Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, which he kicked off in Omaha, Nebraska, in late February.
The series of rallies, which also prominently feature U.S. Rep.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, are billed as a discussion with Americans to regain power from billionaires and corporate influence in government. The rallies have have drawn record crowds in some cities, and event organizers said they closed doors at the Idaho Center with 12,500 attendees. Its listed capacity is 12,200.
Sanders has had strong support in Idaho in the past. In 2016, he won the Democratic primary against eventual nominee Hillary Clinton with 78% of caucus votes. Sanders’ hourlong speech raised alarm over billionaires’ involvement in President Donald Trump’s White House, primarily the controversial Department of Government Efficiency’s Elon Musk.
Sanders focused broadly on the need for livable wages, access to health care and affordable housing, and similar issues that have long been part of the Independent politician’s platform. Ocasia-Cortez urged Idaho voters to “give Russ Fulcher and Mike Simpson the boot” during her speech, referring to the Republican U.S.
House members from Idaho who move almost in lockstep with Trump. Idaho politicians, organizers and doctors brought those same issues back to the Gem State in opening speeches that addressed the state’s abortion ban and Medicaid cuts, and the impacts of Trump policies. Idaho speakers bring Sanders message home Nate Roberts, a former Democratic member of the Idaho House who is running to regain the seat he lost in 2024, opened the event with a call to attendees to “make democracy your side hustle.
” Roberts, of Pocatello, said he was drawn to politics after attending a Sanders event in Idaho Falls in 2016, and became more involved in his electricians union. Roberts served a single term. He told attendees that he was proud to protect teachers unions, labor rights and Medicaid.
“Don’t let them tell you one vote doesn’t matter,” Roberts said. “One vote protected Idaho’s Medicaid system for two years running.” Lawmakers passed a law to cut Medicaid expansion funds in the most recent session.
Rep. Todd Achilles, D-Boise/Garden City, spoke about the impacts of the Trump administration’s cuts to federal jobs, particularly in the Veterans Administration and organizations that oversee public lands. “It’s only taken about four months for us to shoot down the theory that we should run the U.
S. like a business,” Achilles said. He likened the current political state to signs that sometimes warn hunters and backpackers to proceed with caution in the backcountry.
“Idaho, it’s time to self-rescue,” Achilles said. Chandler Bursey, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1273, the union representing federal workers at the Boise VA, spoke after Achilles. He said if Trump officials’ plans to cut VA jobs are approved, the local hospital will lose at least 300 workers.
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