Decision 2020

Sanders Starts 2-Day Swing in Mass., Seeks to Beat Warren on Her Home Turf

Sanders held a rally in Springfield on Friday and will speak in Boston on Saturday

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Bernie Sanders started a two-day swing in Massachusetts, Friday, making a bold play for a primary win on Elizabeth Warren's home turf.

The Vermont senator appeared at a rally in Springfield Friday evening at the MassMutual Center. He will also hold a noon rally Saturday on Boston Common.

"I'm here tonight to humbly ask for your support," said Sanders, who never mentioned any of his Democratic competitors to his supporters in Springfield.

Instead, Sanders reserved all of his focus for President Trump.

"We are united together to make sure that we defeat Donald Trump, the worst president in the modern history of this country," said Sanders.

Nestor Mato spoke with voters gathering in downtown Springfield, Massachusetts, ahead of an appearance by presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.

The Democratic front-runner says he's focused on two goals: beating Trump and forming a coalition that works for everyone, not just the wealthy.

"We are in the process of putting together an unprecedented multiracial, multigenerational, grass-roots movement," he said.

Sanders touched on most of his platform, from climate change, to strong unions, to erasing student debt and perhaps his most vital issue -- universal health care.

"We will end the international disgrace of being the only major country on Earth not to guarantee health care to every man, woman and child as a human right," he said.

The rallies come days ahead of Super Tuesday on March 3, when Massachusetts will be one of 14 states to vote in the presidential primaries.

They also come as voters in South Carolina prepare to vote Saturday in a critical primary.

Sanders and Warren have largely avoided criticizing each other even while competing for many of the same voters. But Sanders' hitting Warren's home state doesn't exactly send a message of political camaraderie.

A new WBUR poll released Friday showed Sanders in the lead at 25%, well ahead of Warren's 17%.

That's a dramatic shift from just a week earlier, when a UMass Lowell poll had Sanders (21%) and Warren (20%) in a neck-and-neck race for delegates in the Massachusetts primary.

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