“We deserve someone who writes the damn bills,” said Tlaib, referencing Sanders’s blunt reminder at a debate that he wrote sweeping Medicare-for-all legislation. “We deserve Bernie Sanders.”
The crowd inside a high school gymnasium here in Detroit erupted in cheers. Sanders joined Tlaib onstage, where the two hugged.
Sanders praised Tlaib for “standing up to the vulgarity and ugliness of Donald Trump” and taking on “the greed and corruption of the economic establishment.”
“I will look to her for her leadership in Congress under a Sanders administration,” he added.
The endorsement, which has been widely anticipated, came less than two weeks after Sanders won the backing of Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), two other members of the Squad.
Allies of Sanders hope the support from these young and prominent women of color, all elected to Congress in 2018, will give his campaign a fresher and more youthful feel at a moment when his age and health have come under scrutiny. Sanders suffered a heart attack on Oct. 1, a point he referred to in an aside toward the end of his speech on Sunday. “This comes from the bottom of my heart. And by the way, my heart is doing just fine,” said Sanders, who at age 78 is the oldest candidate in the field.
Sanders is also looking for ways to build more support for his campaign, which has trailed two others for months. Most polls show Sanders at third place in the Democratic primary behind former vice president Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).
It's unclear whether the endorsements from members of the Squad, whose liberal ideologies are very similar to Sanders’s, will ultimately help him accomplish that. The fourth member of the Squad, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, is neutral in the race. She represents a district in Warren’s home state of Massachusetts.
Tlaib made history this year as the first Palestinian American woman sworn into Congress. Like Sanders, she identifies as a democratic socialist.
“We deserve a president who understands that the corporate assault on our lives existed before Trump,” Tlaib said. “And it will exist after Trump.”
Sunday’s rally was held at Cass Technical High School, where the student body is predominantly African American. Sanders and Tlaib each pledged $5,000 from their campaigns to support the school’s marching band.
Sanders struggled to win the support of African American voters when he ran against Hillary Clinton in 2016. Although he has taken some steps to improve his performance in his current campaign, there has been little indication his efforts have made a significant impact.
More than 4,700 people attended Sunday’s rally, according to an estimate provided by the Sanders campaign.
The Sanders campaign allowed a small group of reporters to cover the tour of Tlaib’s district they took beforehand. The Washington Post was not among them.
Rock musician Jack White, who attended Cass Technical, warmed up the crowd with a few songs. He told them that while he does not consider himself a politically affiliated person, he trusts Sanders.
Winning support from members of the Squad has been a coup for Sanders, particularly when it comes to his competition with Warren. She’s had more success in the polls running on a similar leftist platform and would make history as the first female president. Those factors led some Democrats to wonder in recent months whether Squad members might back her or stay neutral.
But Warren has also won influential backers and some Democrats believe she is laying the foundation for a broader coalition of support. Warren recently earned the endorsement of Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, who won a competitive California congressional district in the midterms.
While members of the Squad have many loyal followers, they have at times stoked controversy and alienated some fellow Democrats. Earlier this year, Tlaib attracted widespread attention after saying of President Trump, “we’re gonna go in there and we’re gonna impeach the motherf-----.” The comments drew some concerns from party leaders.
Omar faced a rebuke from party leaders for suggesting that Israel’s allies in American politics were motivated by money rather than principle. She later apologized.
Trump has attacked the members of the Squad, arguing that they should “go back” to their own countries, even though they are American citizens. Tlaib referenced his attack on Sunday, saying, “Well, Mr. President, I am home.”
Sunday’s rally concluded a four-day, three-state swing for Sanders, his first extended campaign trip since his heart attack. On an “End Corporate Greed Tour” through Iowa on Thursday and Friday, Sanders started repeatedly framing his advanced age as an asset that he said reflects his lengthy and unrivaled record of liberal activism.
“There are advantages to being old,” Sanders said, pointing out his decades of liberal activism. “I’ve been on more picket lines, I expect, than all my opponents combined over the last 30 years.”
Some supporters are embracing that message.
“Bernie has the life experience to have seen the hollowing out of rural towns,” said Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a national co-chair of the Sanders campaign who recently stumped for the senator in Iowa. “It’s why people believe him when he says he will fight to revitalize these communities and bring back good-paying jobs.”
Sanders will return to Iowa on Friday and Saturday. Next Sunday, he will be in Minnesota for a rally with Omar.