Bernie Sanders, Vermont's U.S. senator, was in New Hampshire Sunday for his first campaign event since announcing his 2020 presidential bid.
This is Sanders second run for the presidency after losing the Democratic nomination to Hillary Clinton, who eventually lost her bid for the White House in 2016 against Donald Trump.
On Sunday, Sen. Sanders thanked granite staters for launching his 2016 political revolution and said this time he's going to win.
"This is where the political revolution took off," Sanders told the crowd. "Thank you, New Hampshire."
He delivered his remarks to a packed Grappone Conference Center in Concord. The crowd braved a snow storm to see the Vermont senator in his first visit to the state since announcing his 2020 run.
"I know that we New Englanders are hearty souls, but frankly we did not expect to see so many people here this morning," Sanders said of the turnout.
Sanders enters the 2020 race positioned very differently than four years ago when he says the establishment considered his agenda to be "radical and extreme," including raising the minimum wage, Medicare for all, free public college, and aggressively combating climate change.
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He says these ideas are now increasingly embraced by Democratic leaders, even helping define their presidential campaigns.
Said Sanders: "Virtually all of those ideas are supported by a majority of the American people, and they are being supported by Democratic candidates from school board to president of the United States."
And Sanders didn't disappoint. He railed against tax cuts for the rich and unfair economic opportunities for the middle class. He vowed to change the election process so that the wealthy and lobbyists have less influence over Washington politicians.
"Together, we are going to create a political system which is based on the democratic principles of one person - one vote - and end a system which allows billionaires to buy elections," Sanders said. "Yes. We are going to overturn Citizens United and move to public funding of elections. Today, we fight for a political revolution."
Sanders joins a long list of Democratic candidates hoping to unseat Donald Trump in November of 2020. Sanders topped Hillary Clinton by 22 points in the state's 2016 primary, but he now faces a wider field of rivals, including Sens. Kamala Harris of California, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Former Vice President Joe Biden is also rumored to be seriously considering a bid for the presidency as well.
Sanders is hoping to this time to get the nomination and face Trump. In 2016, Sanders won 23 primary contests to Clinton's 34. Clinton does not plan to run again and the Independent from Vermont hopes to carry the Granite State a second time around.
Polls show Sanders coming out of the 2020 gate leading Democratic candidates in New Hampshire and coming in second just behind Biden nationally.
And Sanders is more than ready to take on Trump: "Democracy is about serious debate over public policy, not having a president who is a pathological liar and has told thousands of blatant lies since he has an office."
Sanders says he will win this election because he will put together the strongest grassroots coalition in American political history.
The Republican National Committee weighed in on his New Hampshire visit, saying Sanders' "radical push for socialism is super charging the Democratic Party to the left at a cost of trillions of dollars."
