Democratic Presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders rallied Monday morning by the Hartford riverfront. It was the second of two Connecticut campaign stops after speaking in New Haven Sunday night in front of 14,000 spectators.
Sanders's stump speech in Hartford was energetic, but he seemed more hoarse after his previous night's visit to New Haven as he railed against Wall Street and a rigged economy. The issues he spoke about in both cities were the same: income inequality, health care, and free college tuition. But in New Haven, he took a swipe at Yale University using the city as a metaphor for what’s happening throughout the country.
“Right here, we have a university that has an endowment of $24 billion, but all over this city and in this state, we have children who are living in desperate poverty,” Sanders said.
Sanders also jabbed at Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy over cuts to mental health services.
"I understand that your governor has been cutting mental health treatment," Sanders said to a crowd of over 1,000 in Hartford. "It is not good enough to say to somebody who is walking around the streets of America who is suicidal, or maybe homicidal, that you have to wait six months for treatment."
He did not bring up the issue of gun control, which he’s been repeatedly criticized for by rival Hillary Clinton.
In the New Haven crowd was Don Griglui, 51, a long-time Sanders supporter.
“I wanna leave a better world for my kids and grandkids and I think he’s the one that would do it,” Griglui said.
But not everyone in the crowd was excited about the senator from Vermont .
Toni Scott, visiting New Haven from Chicago, said she’s a Hillary supporter, but could be swayed.
“I’m open to hearing both sides, and maybe I’ll leave here, like, supporting Bernie, and feeling the burn instead of giving ointment, because I’m a nurse,” Scott said. “We’re both nurses, but the energy is really good, and it feels good so far. I am just opened to really hearing both sides.”
Sanders ended the evening encouraging voters to turn out in record numbers.
