On a crisp blue-sky Presidents Day afternoon, fans of Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders arrived early to line up for his free rally Monday at the Tacoma Dome.

The Dome eventually would see its seats filled with an audience eager to cheer on the Democratic candidate for president later that evening.

Danny Mulligan from Philadelphia played bluegrass tunes with a few friends outside. They changed a handful of lyrics to fit some of Sanders’ trademark policies.

“It would be OK to go to the emergency room, because it wouldn’t cost a fortune,” Mulligan sang while waiting in line.

He works for a health insurance company in Philadelphia, and Mulligan said he hopes that a Sanders presidency would mean his profession wouldn’t exist.

“This is a soul-sucking industry,” he said. “No one explains to people that they are paying hundreds of dollars a month and still have to meet a deductible before insurance kicks in.”

Cynthia Landry told The News Tribune that “Bernie stands for something that is, instead of for the singular person or the benefit of him and the top elite, he’s for the betterment of all of us.”

Young adults with Democratic Socialists of America said they had been canvassing, knocking on doors and registering hundreds of residents in Tacoma and Olympia. Many of them, according to Riley Woodward-Pratt, the co-chair of the Olympia DSA, are excited to support Sanders. Woodward-Pratt said people want someone who is going to provide different policies for health care and education.

“People are so tired of the political system, they are disengaged,” he said waiting to get into the Dome. “They see why it matters with Bernie.”

Twin sisters Shangé and Sojourner Purnell came down from Everett and Seattle

“Moderates think that compromise is a victory, but we’re done with that. We want change,” Sojourner Purnell said.

The sisters were big Elizabeth Warren fans in 2016, but she lost their support when she did not endorse Sanders.

“If she endorsed Bernie, she could have changed the game,” Sojourner Purnell said.

They have switched allegiances to the 78-year-old senator from Vermont because he is the only one not just nudging the system but trying to change it, Shangé Purnell said.

Chris Ray said his drive to support the Sanders campaign saved his life and got him out of the club scene. He organized events for Sanders in the San Francisco area, where he once lived. He tattooed both wrists, one with “Feel the Bern” and the other with a bird, commemorating the bird that landed on Sander’s podium at a Portland rally.

Ray drove from Portland to attend the rally. Sanders is the only candidate Ray feels fights for what people care about.

“The proof is in the pudding,” he said. “(Sanders) will fight this fight all the way, and I’m all in.”

Sanders appeared Monday evening along with U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal. Jayapal is the Washington state chair and health policy chair for Bernie 2020 and represents the state’s 7th Congressional District.

She announced there was more than 17,000 people in attendance to cheers (17,026, according to numbers from the fire department provided to the campaign).

“Is it radical to say we want housing and not handcuffs. .... We in America we don’t suffer from scarcity. We suffer from greed,” Jayapal said in opening remarks.

Puyallup Tribal Council chairman David Bean took the stage to speak out against the Tacoma liquefied natural gas facility and praised Sanders’ recognition of “the climate crisis.”

Musical artists Portugal. The Man performed, opening with a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.”

They were followed by Oscar winning actor/director Tim Robbins.

“Way to go Tacoma! You are one hell of an impressive crowd,” he said. “Bernie Sanders is the one who can unite us. ... When he says not me us, he means it.”

Sanders himself seemed surprised at the crowd size.

“This is just an unbelievable turnout,” he said at the start of the speech after taking the stage to John Lennon’s “Power to the People.”

“We have a corrupt political system that allows billionaires to buy elections. So we say to those billionaires .... to Mayor Bloomberg we are a democracy not an oligarchy,” he said, to loud cheers of “Bernie, Bernie.”

Bloomberg and President Trump were the only two other candidates in the presidential race he or the other speakers mentioned by name during the rally.

Not everyone was thrilled with his visit.

The state GOP on Monday issued a statement blasting Sanders and his politics just before his appearance in Tacoma.

“Washington state is no stranger to socialism — the tents, the needles, the public urination, the crime — we’ve seen all of the devastating consequences right in Seattle,” the statement read. “Washingtonians know all too well that Bernie Sanders’ guarantees of government-run health care and free college are just empty promises from a career politician who has never held a job outside of elected office. Sanders has admitted that his policies would hike taxes on the middle class, Washingtonians oppose this reckless expansion of government.”

Sanders said the Democratic establishment was trying to stop him.

“How do we stop Bernie and the movement, they ask ... but they are not going to succeed because workers all over this country are demanding decent jobs, decent wages, young people want a college education without going into debt, the overwhelming majority of Americans understand health care is a right ... all over the world people know we have to take on the fossil fuel industry and save the planet from climate change ... and that’s why the establishment is getting nervous,” he said.

Washington as a battleground for Democrats

Sanders’ campaign received the most donations from Tacoma ZIP codes in 2019 among all the Democratic contenders, according to a review of the Federal Election Commission’s end-of year report.

Washington has become a hotbed for presidential candidate visits with this year’s vote-by mail March 10 primary, one week after Super Tuesday. Ballots will be mailed out Feb. 21.

For the first time in the state’s history, both parties are using primary results for delegate allocation at their national conventions this summer.

Sanders’ Tacoma visit comes ahead of a scheduled free rally in Seattle on Saturday featuring fellow contender Elizabeth Warren, and one week after another contender, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg, appeared at a private fundraiser for an estimated 350 paying ticket holders at a conference center on Seattle’s waterfront.

Earlier in February, the campaign of former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg opened a campaign office in downtown Tacoma, one of several in the state.

As the campaigns start doubling down on their Pacific Northwest efforts, they’re also fine-tuning their messages to resonate with top issues locally and throughout the Western states, particularly affordable housing.

Sanders on Monday night touted his “Housing for All” program.

This is America, he said, and we shouldn’t “have a half-million people sleeping out in the streets.”

He also noted if banks can be bailed out, then “Congress can cancel all student debt in this country.”

On Sunday, the Mercury News reported in its California Bay Area primary issues roundup that former Vice President Joe Biden’s campaign has said he would focus on policies to get homeless people into housing as quickly as possible.

On Monday, the Buttigieg campaign released its proposed affordable housing policy, a topic he also was asked about at his Seattle event Saturday. Warren updated her housing policy in November, the same month Sanders and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced the Green New Deal for Public Housing. Billionaire contender Tom Steyer also released his proposal in November.

In December, Democratic contender Amy Klobuchar released her housing plan, followed in January by Bloomberg with his plan.

Washington state’s earlier showing among states in an accelerated race for delegates also is reflected in the voter guide mailed out last week to voters. Five of the 13 Democratic candidates profiled in the booklet and set to appear on the ballot are no longer actively campaigning: Michael Bennet, Cory Booker, John Delaney, Deval Patrick and Andrew Yang.

President Donald Trump is the only listed Republican candidate for the primary ballot.

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