More than 8,000 people listened Sunday night to Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont speak on the New Haven Green. The Democratic Presidential candidate was in Connecticut ahead of the state’s Tuesday primary.
Sanders repeated his call for a “political revolution” to end poverty by raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and to make public postsecondary education tuition free.
He pointed to New Haven, Connecticut, as an example of the inequality he’s campaigned against.
“Right now here in the great city of New Haven -- we see almost a metaphor for what’s happening throughout this country. Right here in this great city, we have one of the most outstanding institutions of higher education all over the world -- that’s what Yale University is. We should be proud of this great university but a few miles away from here -- in this same city -- we have children who are getting totally inadequate education. Kids, who in a million years, would never dream of going to get a college education. All over this city and this state, you’ve got children who are living in desperate poverty.
According to the U.S. Census, one in four people are below the poverty line in New Haven. At Sunday’s rally, Sanders called on his supporters to vote.
“What I’ve learned in this campaign so far is when the voter turnout is high, we win. When the voter turnout is low we lose,” he said. “So our job on Tuesday is to create the highest voter turnout in the state of Connecticut, and let us have the great state of Connecticut help lead this country in the political revolution.”
Connecticut has closed primaries, which means only registered party members can vote in Tuesday’s elections. New and unaffiliated voters can still register with a party in person until noon on Monday.