OLYMPIA, Wash. — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders spoke at a rally at the Tacoma Dome Monday night in his first 2020 campaign appearance in Washington state.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who represents the 7th Congressional District that covers most of Seattle, introduced Sanders to the crowd of thousands. Seattle Councilmembers Kshama Sawant and Teresa Mosqueda took the podium first, followed by actor Tim Robbins.
Sanders' campaign staff said 17,000 people attended Monday night's rally, which they call the “largest rally any presidential candidate has held in Washington this cycle”.
Before the rally, Sanders spoke one-on-one with KING 5 Chief Reporter Chris Daniels.
Sanders said if he were elected President, he would look at industries like Amazon that "have an increased concentration of ownership... to see what kind of monopolizations exist."
Sanders is fresh off a win in the New Hampshire primary and visiting Washington ahead of its March 10 presidential primary. State Democrats scrapped the caucuses they previously used – and which Sanders won in 2016 – for the primary.
Ballots will be mailed to the state's nearly 4.5 million registered voters on Feb. 21.
Since he launched his presidential bid, Sanders has raised nearly $6 million from Washingtonians, according to his campaign.
An exclusive KING 5 News poll also suggests Sanders could earn the Democratic vote in Washington. The poll, which was conducted last month by SurveyUSA, found 26% of likely Democratic voters in Washington would cast their vote for Sanders if the presidential primary were to happen today. Joe Biden would earn 21% of the vote, Elizabeth Warren would garner 16%, and Mike Bloomberg would receive 12%.
