Grassroots Groups for Sanders React to Super Tuesday

03.04.2020

LOS ANGELES -- On the largest voting day in the 2020 primary cycle, Bernie Sanders won the biggest, state with the most delegates -- California, and came close in Texas, the second-most delegate rich state. He won 55 percent of Latino voters in California and 45 percent in Texas. Sanders proved himself to be the candidate of the future, winning young voters across the country. 

Moving forward in the race, it is a two-way contest between Bernie Sanders and Joe Biden.

Leading up to Election Day today, grassroots groups like those in the Center for Popular Democracy Action (CPD Action) network knocked doors, made phone calls, joined rallies, and mobilized for Senator Bernie Sanders. Affiliate organizations including the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment in California, Take Action Minnesota in Minnesota, the Texas Organizing Project and Workers Defense Action Fund in Texas, Rights and Democracy in Vermont and CASA in Action in Virginia reached a combined 147,000 predominately Black and Latino voters. Make the Road Action mobilized to knock doors in Virginia and make calls to voters in Texas.

“We need energy and enthusiasm to beat Donald Trump. No candidate is inspiring voters in the same way as Bernie Sanders is,” said Natalia Salgado, political director at CPD Action. “He has a vision for the future of the country that includes us all. It’s a future where we have health care and fair wages, affordable housing and access to higher education. We can’t look back now. We need to make sure that we move toward justice, instead of preserving the stranglehold that billionaires and big corporations have on our economy and our democracy. Sanders has done deep work building with Latino voters and encouraging our communities to turn out. Yet the results of Super Tuesday make clear that Sanders needs to do work to reach Black voters.”

Texas

The Texas Organizing Project reached out to a total of 97,000 voters to support Bernie Sanders in Harris, Dallas and Bexar counties. They also drove support for Jessica Cisneros in the state’s 28th Congressional District. Additionally, TOP ran digital advertisements to drive turnout. The video features the Sanders endorsement of Deborah Bush, whose nephew, Marquise Jones, was shot and killed by a police officer six years ago.

“Black and Latino Texans know that a big vision for change -- one that is drawn from our dreams and matches inspiration with substance -- is the antidote to status quo politics that has left us on the margins,” said Brianna Brown, the deputy director of the Texas Organizing Project. “Bernie’s commitment to a vision of structural change is what we need to win in November. The stakes are too high.”

“Bernie Sanders ‘Not me, Us’ genuinely describes what his race is about and what we need in this moment. So many Black and Brown lives are at stake in these elections and his victory means real change for our communities. Still, we must remember that our work does not end here and we must continue to organize our communities to build true power.”- Diana Ramirez, Director of Civic Engagement for Workers Defense in Action Fund

California

The Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) has been a leading figure in the movement for rent control and fair housing in California. Most recently, they have been involved in rent strikes in Fruitvale and the Moms 4 Housing movement in Oakland. They also worked with Bernie Sanders to design his housing policy, and later endorsed him. Many California voters note that the state’s rising inequality and homelessness crisis drove them to vote for Sanders. 

“Bernie is running a genuinely people powered movement that brings black and brown people, working families and immigrants to the table to hold power together,” said Sasha Graham, ACCE State Board President. “Bernie's team has been there for us. They show up at our events, promote our causes, and ask us what the Senator should be doing. They are proving through their actions that Bernie means it when he says "Not me, US." 

Minnesota

TakeAction Minnesota reached 35,000 voters across the state through door knocks, phone calls and text organizing. People across the state shared their reasons for voting for Sanders, from immigration to indigenous rights, health care to a Green New Deal. In a Minneapolis rally on Sunday, Take Action Minnesota’s executive director introduced Bernie Sanders to a crowd of 5,000.

Virginia

CASA in Action knocked 5,000 doors in the state and reached another 10,000 of the state’s immigrant and Latino population through phone conversations. 

“So much is at stake this presidential election, and our community cannot risk inaction and half measures, or worse, another Trump presidency. Senator Sanders' plans will help bring real change to our community,” said Yaheiry Mora, Director of CASA in Action. “We are proud of our CASA in Action members and volunteers who were out in full force for weeks, door-knocking and phone-banking to mobilize the immigrant and Latino vote!”
 

In December of 2019, 75 percent of the CPD Action network voted to endorse Bernie Sanders. CPD Action is a member of People Power for Bernie, a network of community organizations committed to driving grassroots energy around his campaign.

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Center for Popular Democracy Action promotes equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with innovative base-building organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and progressive unions across the country. CPD Action builds the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial justice agenda