With about three weeks to go until Super Tuesday, presidential hopeful U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) held a rally at the Mesquite Arena Friday night.
Sanders' campaign estimates about 5,300 people filled the arena -- one of the first in line Friday was Dallas resident Lance Lozano who, before the rally, told NBC 5 he was currently undecided on who to vote for and wanted to personally hear from as many different candidates as possible.
“I figure if I listen to Bernie, maybe he’ll appeal to me. Maybe not. I won’t know until I get to actually hear him in person,” Lozano. “I'm excited to see the guy. I’ve never seen him in person before. He’ll be the first Democratic candidate that I see this year. Hopefully, I’ll see a couple more then hopefully make up my mind before the primaries on March 3.”
Others, like Jeremy Dexter, consider themselves long-term supporters of Sanders. Dexter also attended Sanders’ rally in Fort Worth last year.
“There’s an energy there, you know, meeting people. It’s kind of emotional man, you know? People standing up to the government, wanting a better life,” Dexter said. “You know 100% what you’re getting from that guy. That’s not something you get from a lot of politicians.”
Emily and Jacob Heifner drove from Texarkana to attend the rally Friday night. For Jacob, one of the biggest issues he wanted to see tackled was student loan debt.
“I’m very passionate about politics. I’m very passionate about my support for Bernie Sanders, especially here in Texas where you don’t find many people like that. So I just wanted to come out here and see him for once,” Heifner said.
Before the rally, Sanders sat down with NBC 5's Julie Fine for a one-on-one interview that will air Sunday morning at 8:30 a.m. during Lone Star Politics.
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In the interview, Sanders confidently said he thought he would carry Texas on Super Tuesday.
“I think we are going to win here in Texas. I think you are seeing a changing dynamic. I think you are seeing a lot more young people getting involved in the political process, and more minority groups getting involved in the process,” said Sanders.
According to the latest University of Texas/Texas Tribune poll, Sanders has doubled his support among Democratic voters in Texas. He now leads the race for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination in Texas by two points.
“The message of our campaign is called us, not me. And that is actually a pretty profound message,” said Sanders.
From Texas, Sanders traveled to Nevada, the site of the next debate, and the next caucuses.
