U.S Sen. Bernie Sanders hosted his “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” tour with special guest Angie Nixon, ahead of early voting beginning in Leon County.
Event speakers urged attendees to support candidates that weren’t backed by major corporations, noting that grassroots campaigns make “the people” and their needs a priority, instead of money.
Passions were high as Sanders and Nixon challenged the current political state of the United States and the wealth disparity that can be seen in the wealthy funding political campaigns.
“You got an economy today that is working great for the billionaires, not so great for working families. We got to take on oligarchy and demand for an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%,” said Sanders in a sit-down interview with WANM News.
Sanders believes that billionaires, like Elon Musk, should be taxed to help with the wealth gap in America.
“When Mr. Musk himself owns more wealth than the bottom 53% of American households, we got to tell musk and his billionaire friends they’re going to have to start paying their fair share of taxes, so we can take care of the children, we can take care of our seniors, and we can take care of working-class families,” said Sanders.
Nixon, Florida democratic candidate for U.S Senate, argued that major corporations’ backing candidates want to line their pockets, not create a sustainable living for all.
“The big corporations are the ones that are padding the campaign coffers of the Ashley Moody’s of the world,” said Nixon in a sit-down with press. “They’re the ones that don’t want us to have access to social security, for our seniors to have access to healthcare, they don’t want our public schools to be fully funded because they make more money off of our students being routed to the school to prison pipeline.”
David O’keefe, Leon County Commissioner, said grassroots campaigns were necessary to ensure power stayed with the people.
“They’re facing so much corporate and Pac money on the right-wing side, that energizing individual people, neighbor to neighbor, city to city, working harder than any other candidate, is how they’re going to win this state and put the Senate seat back in the people’s hands,” said O’keefe.
Policymakers say that voters should organize and let their voices be heard and to vote for candidates who align with their core values.
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