TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made the final stop of their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour in Tucson on Saturday.
The duo made five stops across Nevada, Colorado and Arizona this past week. On Thursday, a rally was held at Mullett Arena in Tempe.
Saturday’s rally was scheduled to start at 11:30 a.m. at Catalina High School, with doors opening at 10:30 a.m. Some supporters began lining up hours in advance.
During his speech, Sanders said over 20,000 people were in attendance.
Thank you Tucson and the more than 23,000 people who came out to see me, @AOC and Rep. @GregCasar.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) March 22, 2025
In just 5 events, we had over 86,000 join us to stand up to authoritarianism & oligarchy and stop any bill that slashes Medicaid to give billionaires even more tax breaks. pic.twitter.com/gcbiD5nrT2
While Sanders and AOC headlined the event, Pima County District 5 Supervisor Adelita Grijalva and Representative Greg Casar, representing Texas’ 35th congressional district, were among the other speakers.
President Donald Trump and his administration were the main focus of the rally.
“We don't want a king in the United States, we overthrew our king,” Sanders said. “We want a vibrant democracy, not all power resting in the hands of one person.”
Other central talking points were healthcare, education and wealth disparity.
“We need to be taxing the rich on the floor of the United States Congress,” Ocasio-Cortez said. "We need to be establishing guaranteed health care on the floor of the United States Congress, not erasing American history on the floor of the United States Congress. We need to be passing a living wage on the floor of the United States Congress, and we're going to send a message to Donald Trump and Elon Musk and every Republican in the state of Arizona that we will not be distracted. We got our eyes on the prize, and we will build the nation that we want for ourselves."
Attendee Taber Allison recently moved to Tucson and is originally from Sanders’ state of Vermont. He said this event provides an outlet for concerned citizens.
“What we're seeing right now is just a total denial of the rule of law and an overriding of the rule of law by the Trump administration,” Allison said.
Manuel Valenzuela attended with his sister and friend. He said this event helped to re-energize him.
“Since the last election, I actually felt very discouraged. I didn't have the energy to go out, to even be on social media, to be honest,” Valenzuela said. “So I wanted that energy to come back. And this rally, for sure, is what gave it to me. I needed it.”
Valenzuela hopes to see the energy he saw at the rally continue come election time.
On Thursday, Congressman Juan Ciscomani said Sanders and AOC have their own constituents and are here to spread lies.
“I don’t know what their intention is coming into this district or into this town – probably to peddle more lies, so good luck to them, but I haven’t met more two out-of-touch people than them.”
