CHARLESTON, W.Va. –West Virginia representative for the Democratic National Committee Sam Petsonk says former presidential candidate and U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) is coming to West Virginia to voice his frustrations with the Democratic Party and encourage change.
“Bernie has taken to traveling the whole country to voice his frustrations and demand change, and I think he wants to see that change in West Virginia like a lot of us do, so he’s here to try to lift up those concerns and give representation to people who are frustrated with our political system here in West Virginia,” Petsonk said on MetroNews Talkline Wednesday morning.
Sanders is scheduled to be in the Mountain State Friday, August 8, and Saturday, August 9, for his “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go from Here” tour. An oligarchy is a form of government in which power is held with a small number of people.
Petsonk said that since Sanders won the West Virginia primary in the May 2016 presidential election, outpolling rival Hillary Clinton, he believes the turnout will be strong at of Sanders’ stops.
“We’ve already seen tens of thousands of people express interest in these events here, so I do think that a lot of people do appreciate, and they appreciate the accountability he tries to bring to the public discourse,” he said.
During the 2016 primary, Sanders made appearances in South Charleston, Huntington, Kimball, and Morgantown. In 2017, he visited Charleston and McDowell Counties where he rallied against a Republican effort to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
During his time in the state, he’ll visit three counties:
-Ohio County, Friday Aug. 8 at 6 p.m.
Capitol Theatre located at 1015 Main St., Wheeling. Doors open at 3 p.m., event starts at 6 p.m. RSVP:
bit.ly/BernieWV2025_Wheeling
-Mingo County, Saturday Aug. 9 at 1 p.m.
Lenore Community Center located at 19 Laurel Creek Road, Lenore. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. RSVP: bit.ly/BernieWV2025_Lenore
-Kanawha County, Saturday Aug 9 at 6 p.m.
Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center, 200 Civic Center Drive, Charleston. Doors open at 3 p.m., event starts at 6 p.m. RSVP: bit.ly/BernieWV2025_Charleston
Petsonk said he believes Sanders chose to visit Mingo County because he has always wanted to visit where rural and working folks are hurting the most and the community of Lenore is a powerful example of that.
“Mingo County has had a very dynamic community organizing history throughout our state, they’ve done a lot of great stuff to fight for rural communities and that’s what they’re doing here by hosting him,” he said.
Petsonk believes Sanders is working to address the issues within the Democratic Party from the outside.
“The dynamics of organizations are such that minority voices often wind up suppressed and so we think that Democratics in West Virginia the best way to gage what the republican party does is to run against in a general election and having a public debate and Bernie’s doing the same from the outside to try and change the democratic party,” he said.
After his visit to the state, his tour will have hosted 27 rallies across the U.S. since February
After this he will head to Greensboro and Asheville in North Carolina for more “Fighting Oligarchy” rallies.