I’m Not a Bernie “Bro,” I’m a Proud Advocate for the Working Class

I enjoyed connecting with voters in my area this weekend while canvassing for Bernie Sanders. Two people in Alcoa stood out to me: The first was a young woman who said she tries to stay out of politics, but she also wasn’t shooing me away. (Maybe having my kid there helped?) She seemed to want me to stay and talk, so I engaged her on the topic of income inequality. It was wild, but I swear I saw an almost imperceptible spark of something light up in her. It was like our conversation gave her an ounce of permission to care about the issues and think for herself. I told her every vote counts and every voice counts. She genuinely thanked me and said she would look into voting for Bernie.

Another voter said he always votes Libertarian but is nervous now and just wants to Dump Trump. So I talked about Bernie’s longtime status as an Independent, and the guy said he had no idea. He said he didn’t want politics as usual, and I said, well, Bernie doesn’t either. I talked to him about how Bernie wants to address income inequality and make sure companies like Amazon and Walmart aren’t exempt from their fair share of taxes that would help fund social programs. The guy nodded. I talked about how climate change is a top issue for me and how Bernie wants to address the climate crisis and hold fossil fuel companies accountable. He was with me, nodding at everything, taking it all in. In the end, the guy seemed really relieved that there could be another “outsider” option and genuinely thanked me. Who knew?

It’s even been difficult for me to decide this time around, and the first time in 20 years I haven’t known who I was voting for going into the primaries. In the end, I feel this movement has GROWN since 2016, and I’m in solidarity with the intersectional youth climate movement. Labor unions and educators support Bernie, and I’m interested in the fact that Bernie has the most number of individual donations by members of the military. That’s powerful. So I’m taking my MOMentum into Super Tuesday with a few more GOTV efforts. Let’s get this done!