Sanders and Bloomberg turn up the heat
They intensify their attacks on each other as the Democratic race looks to Nevada.
RICHMOND, Calif. — Tensions between Bernie Sanders and Michael R. Bloomberg took on a nasty edge Monday as each sought to establish a dominant position in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.
Sanders, at a rally in the Bay Area, denounced as racist Bloomberg’s policy of having New York police stop and frisk young minority men.
He told the exuberant crowd in Richmond: “Imagine a multibillionaire opposing a raise in the minimum wage. Imagine a multibillionaire asking for cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.”
Sanders, the favorite candidate of progressive Democrats, has sought to highlight Bloomberg’s status as one of America’s richest men as he criticizes what he sees as a corrupt political system that favors the wealthy and the corporate elite.
He also has sought to undercut Bloomberg, a former Republican, by reminding Democrats of the more conservative stands he took during his 12 years as New York mayor. On Monday, Sanders tweeted a photo of Bloomberg with Donald Trump on a golf outing.
Bloomberg now supports an increase in the federal minimum wage, as well as a rise in Social Security benefits pegged to inflation and an expansion of healthcare services covered by Medicare and Medicaid.
His advisors denounced a series of tweets by members of the Sanders campaign calling Bloomberg a racist authoritarian oligarch.
“In the face of the most consequential election of our lifetimes, it is unfortunate that we are even talking about such slanderous attacks from other Democrats,” Bloomberg’s campaign said in a statement.
Bloomberg also released a video featuring vulgar online attacks by Sanders supporters, described as “Bernie Bros,” targeting critics of the Vermont senator. The former New York mayor also took exception to Sanders’ statement that Bloomberg could not create the excitement and energy needed to oust President Trump.
“We need to unite to defeat Trump in November,” Bloomberg wrote in a tweet linking to the video. “This type of ‘energy’ is not going to get us there.”
David Sirota, a senior Sanders communications advisor, wrote on Twitter that Bloomberg’s shots at Sanders “can be best understood as the enraged temper tantrum of a billionaire who has up until now been able to buy everything he wants — but who is now worried he may not be able to buy the presidency, and so he’s lashing out in an effort to silence critics.”
At the rally in Richmond, held in a pavilion that was once a Ford assembly plant, Sanders lashed back.
“Mr. Bloomberg, like anybody else, has a right to run for president,” Sanders said. “He does not have a right to buy the presidency.”
Sanders’ message went over well with supporters in the working-class city, where the median household income is about $65,000, according to U.S. census data, and the majority of residents are black or Latino.
“I would not vote for Bloomberg,” said Clarissa Katko, a student at Diablo Valley College. “I’m tired of the Democratic Party compromising their ideals just for the sake of appearing moderate. It’s not helping the climate. It’s not helping students. It’s not helping minorities or LGBTQ people.”
The 45,000-square-foot Craneway Pavilion overflowed for the get-out-thevote rally ahead of California’s March 3 primary and following Sanders’ win in last week’s New Hampshire primary.
California is likely to be particularly friendly territory for Sanders, given its diverse and liberal electorate; he is especially popular with Latinos and young people. He urged supporters who are independents to register as Democrats or ask for a Democratic ballot.
“This is the most consequential election in our history,” Sanders said. “... And the candidate who wins here in California stands a pretty good chance of [becoming] the president of the nation.”
Razvan Mihalache, a student at Diablo Valley College who will be voting for the first time in a presidential election, said Sanders had the “most consistent record” of any of the candidates. “He’s actually the candidate who’s going to fight for this stuff, whereas other candidates are lukewarm on it and are going to back off of these policies.”
John Myles, a lifetime Richmond resident, said the crowd was not an accurate ref lection of the largely black and Latino population of his hometown. But he said it was “huge” that the campaign held the rally at the plant that once employed many of the families in the city.
“It exemplifies that he’s the candidate that actually is promoting the working class,” said Myles, whose grandparents worked in a plant down the street where in the 1940s Ford assembled military vehicles.
Sanders’ appearance in California, instead of in Nevada, where the race’s next contest is to be held on Saturday, appears to be part of a farther-looking bid to boost support in the more delegate-rich states that hold inperson voting March 3.
His other appearances have included stops in North Carolina, Texas and Colorado.
Bhuiyan reported from Richmond and Finnegan from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Matt Pearce in Las Vegas contributed to this report.