Calling for an end to economic inequality and the creeping political power of billionaires, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders joined prominent Minnesota progressives in Rochester on Saturday, May 2, urging people to organize.

“The challenges that we face are enormous, and the decisions that we make right now will not only shape the future of our country, but the entire planet,” Sanders said. “Whether we like it or not, we are living in a pivotal moment in world history.”

Over an hour-long speech, Sanders urged a crowd of 1,300 people to push for expanded public health care, child tax credits and more benefits to support seniors who live in poverty, among other issues.

He and several Minnesota DFLers also castigated President Donald Trump, billionaires who spend massive sums to influence elections and Republican members of Congress for widening the income gap between wealthy and working-class families through tax breaks for the rich.

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison took aim at Trump and Republicans for using divisive tactics to pit middle-class and poor workers against one another.

He highlighted the Trump administration’s focus on Somali nonprofits and businesses in the wake of widespread allegations of fraud in the state’s social services program.

Ellison said he’s prosecuted just as many “Jacksons and Olsons alongside Hassans and Abdulazizes.”

“When it comes to thieving public money, it is amazingly multicultural,” he said.

The tour also doubled as a campaign rally for Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, who is running to replace U.S. Sen. Tina Smith this fall. Flanagan faces current Democratic U.S. Rep. Angie Craig for the DFL endorsement.

Smith touted Flanagan at the rally as a fighter who would stand up for progressive values and against dysfunction and gridlock in Washington.

“There is a flood of corruption and dark money on both sides, but there are also leaders that are fighting with everything we have to call out the corruption and chaos that is strangling our democracy,” Smith said.

Flanagan argued that not enough people in the nation’s capital care about the majority of Americans living paycheck to paycheck, instead pursuing political victories and military actions over policies that could strengthen the economy.

“There is always plenty of money for ballrooms and bombs, just not for you,” she said.

After the rally, Flanagan said she’s held a majority of her 200-plus campaign stops in greater Minnesota in part to reach more working-class families who are struggling with increasing costs.

“It’s people in rural areas who are getting hit the hardest right now,” she said.

Rallygoers say the call to organize is sorely needed if Democrats hope to take back Congress in the upcoming midterm election.

“Democrats have struggled with their message ever since Obama, in my opinion,” said Stacy Mattson of Red Wing. “You can’t just be anti-Trump. We’ve got to get our stuff together.”

The visit comes as progressives are targeting southern Minnesota in hopes of flipping a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives this fall.

Republican Rep. Brad Finstad has easily staved off challenges since he was first elected in 2022, but Democrats see an opportunity to beat him this year given voter dissatisfaction with Trump’s handling of the economy and the war in Iran.

The vast and largely rural district has been represented by a Republican since 2019 and has voted for Trump in three consecutive elections, however.

Efforts to reach Finstad’s campaign and the state GOP chair were not successful Saturday.

Sanders has held rallies across the U.S. over the past year as part of his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, where he argues the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision in 2010, which loosened restrictions on political spending, is among the biggest issues the U.S. faces.

He argues Congress should pass laws to negate the decision and publicly fund elections to even the playing field among candidates.

_____

©2026 The Minnesota Star Tribune. Visit startribune.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC