What the Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez mega-rallies are really about

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The two progressives are bringing energy to a party that has been exhausted and furious in the second Trump era.

By Holly Otterbein and Brakkton Booker

03/26/2025 05:55 AM EDT

Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are striking a chord.

The socialist firebrands have been criss-crossing the country, attracting some of the largest crowds of their careers. Their rallies are bigger than any other events currently being held by Democrats, and party figures of all stripes are taking notice.

To progressives, it’s nothing short of a revival. And many Democrats, including those with ties to the party establishment, are just breathing a sigh of relief that they might finally have found a rallying cry in the face of the GOP’s all-out control of the federal government.

“I’m so proud and so excited by every Democrat at every single level who is getting out there,” said Malcolm Kenyatta, a vice chair of the Democratic National Committee who has criticized Sanders in the past. “This is not left versus right. This is about flight versus fight.”

Sanders’ advisers said that two-thirds of people who registered to attend his recent events have never come out to see him or donated to him before. Progressives view it as a new opening to pull the party in a more populist direction.

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/26/what-the-bernie-sanders-and-alexandria-ocasio-cortez-mega-rallies-are-really-about-00249753

The leadership must change as well as the political platform.