Thousands rally in Missoula for Bernie Sanders, AOC

MISSOULA — Nearly 7,500 people filled the University of Montana’s Adams Center Wednesday to attend Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ “Fighting Oligarchy” rally. 

Sanders, an Independent, joined by New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, criticized the influence of billionaires in U.S. politics and cuts to federal agencies and programs made by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk. 

The rally was part of Sander’s nationwide tour to discuss how to combat the “oligarchs and corporate interests that have so much power and influence in this country.” 

“Taking on oligarchy is enormously difficult,” Sanders told the capacity crowd. “These guys own the economy. We now have more concentration of ownership than we’ve ever had in the history of this country. They own most of the media. They own the United States Congress and the White House. They got enormous amounts of wealth and power. But, you know what we got? We got the people. And the last that I have heard is that 99% is a hell of a lot bigger number than 1%.” 

Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat, criticized the proposed budget passed by Senate and House Republicans that includes tax breaks and cuts to federal programs. Montana Congressmen Ryan Zinke and Troy Downing, along with Sens. Steve Daines and Tim Sheehy, voted for the measure. 

“They know that it is deeply unpopular to chip away at some of the only social safety nets that people have,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “They know it hurts you, but they are not there to serve working families in Montana. They are there to serve themselves and the billionaires who pay them. But they know that the only chance that they have to get away with such a deeply unpopular agenda is to try to stoke deep divisions along race, identity and culture to keep us fighting and distracted.” 

Sanders said Trump “undermines our Constitution every day” and criticized the administration’s violation of court orders regarding deportation flights, executive orders targeting law firms and universities and the detention of students who spoke out against the war in Gaza. 

Rally-goer Joe Loviska, an environmental educator living in Missoula who self-identified as a liberal, said “Things aren’t going right.” 

“We need to fight the oligarchy, like the message says. And that’s real, even in a state like Montana, where we’re very red,” Loviska said. Loviska celebrated the representatives’ visit to the western Montana city, which he described as “really engaged” and “pretty organized.”

“We’re not a huge national audience, but there are some core values that Missoula holds that Bernie and AOC speak to,” said Loviska.

Organizers allowed a capacity crowd of 7,486 people into the Adams Center, said Dave Kuntz, UM spokesperson. On their way into the venue, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez briefly addressed the overflow crowd of approximately 1,000 people gathered outside.  

The event appeared peaceful except for a protester who blared the horn of a pickup truck sporting a Trump-themed flag close to the overflow crowd before parking it nearby. Police told the man to move the truck and issued him a warning. 

The senator and congresswoman said too many Americans are struggling with low wages and high costs, as the rich become richer. 

“Everybody needs to have a living wage. Everybody needs to have decent health care,” said Beth Trosello, a small-business owner who drove from her 30-year residence in Polson to attend the rally.

Emma Belcher, a pre-med student at the University of Montana said the rally was an opportunity to “gain more knowledge.”

“By learning more, we can feel more optimistic about the future,” said Belcher.

Non-Montana residents also filled seats, including Casiana Azzolini and Maddie Gilmore, a pair of Idahoans who drove to Missoula from Coeur d’Alene. Both Azzolini, an MBA candidate at the University of Idaho, and Gilmore, a high school student, are active in local Democratic organizing. Azzolini said she was excited to attend the rally to bring Sanders’ message “home to our friends and family to share it with our communities.”

Ahead of Sanders’ and Ocasio-Cortez’s speeches, Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants, told the crowd that while it seems like billionaires answer to no one, they really answer to workers. 

“Musk and the other oligarchs have money and control,” she said. “But we have the power. Nothing can move without our labor, and it’s time to exercise our power in a united working class.” 

Earlier speakers — including Tracy Stone Manning, former director of the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, Anne Hedges, executive director of the Montana Environmental Information Center, and Sam Forstag, a smokejumper and vice president of the chapter of a Forest Service employee union — emphasized the current administration’s threat to public lands.

In their comments urging people to resist efforts to sell off public land, two of the speakers snuck in quips referencing the defense secretary’s use of the Signal messaging app to convey plans for a military strike in Yemen to a group that inadvertently included a journalist. 

“Right now, the people who give their lives to public lands and public service are under attack,” Forstag said. “We’re under attack by a bunch of people who’ve never had dirt underneath their fingernails. People who have never swung a tool. People who know as much about the meaning of public service as they do about who’s in their Signal group chat.” 

All speakers emphasized the power of solidarity. 

“Community is the most powerful building block we have to defeat authoritarianism and root out corruption,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “This is the path to guaranteeing health care for every American. This is the path to establishing a living wage, to tackle skyrocketing rents and mortgages, to take on the climate crisis and establish a country where the American dream is actually possible for all of us.”