Rashida Tlaib Endorses Bernie Sanders for President
By Saba Hamedy
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) on Sunday became the latest prominent Democrat to back Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) 2020 presidential bid.
“We deserve a president who understands that the corporate assault on our lives existed before Trump and it will exist after Trump,” she said at a fiery rally held in her district. “Someone who will never back down from a fight with the wealthy and the powerful; who will call them out and bring our movement to their front yards; someone who looks at a problem and finds the most transformative solutions... We deserve someone who writes the damn bills. We deserve Bernie Sanders.”
The endorsement comes one week after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N), another member of the House’s “Squad” (a group of young first-year Democratic women of color), publicly threw her support behind Sanders at a massive rally in Queens, New York.
Ocasio-Cortez, who credits Sanders with inspiring her to run for office, and fellow Squad member Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), both announced their plans to endorse Sanders after the Oct. 15 debate. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) is the only Squad member who has not yet endorsed Sanders.
Tlaib’s formal endorsement adds yet another jolt of momentum to Sanders’ campaign, which faced scrutiny following the 78-year-old’s heart attack earlier this month.
Sanders has downplayed critics’ fears that a recent heart attack survivor would not be able to take the White House from President Donald Trump.
“I’m healthy, I’m feeling great,” Sanders said during the Democratic debate in Ohio. “I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart, and I’m so happy to be back here with you this evening.”
Musician Jack White, who graduated from Detroit’s Cass Technical High School, where the rally took place, opened the event with a performance.
“Bernie Sanders is telling the truth and I trust him,” White told the crowd in between songs.
Prior to the rally, Sanders and Tlaib visited the Brightmoor Connection Food Pantry in Detroit, the Yung Turks’ Emma Vigeland reported.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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