March 19, 2025 03:47 PM UTC

Gabe-less Town Halls, Bennet, And Bernie AOC-My!

• 4 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

THURSDAY UPDATE: It’s Bernie Sanders vs. Lori Saine as the always-cantankerous candidate for Colorado GOP chair organizes counter-protests for each of Sanders’ stops in Greeley and Denver:

We hope both sides keep it neighborly.

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Denverite’s Kyle Harris reports on a big upcoming weekend for pressing the political flesh, with perhaps the largest crowd expected in Civic Center Park Friday evening where Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are stopping on their “Fighting Oligarchy: Where We Go From Here” tour:

Organizers expect 20,000 Denverites to show up when Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez bring their fight against President Donald Trump and billionaires in government to Civic Center Park on Friday afternoon.

Though the event is unpermitted, Denver officials are bracing for the big crowds.

Organizers did not need to pull a permit with the city because the event is defined as an “assembly” and protected under the First Amendment, Office of Special Events spokesperson Silvia Martinez-Palacios told Denverite in an email.

Earlier in the day on Friday, Bernie and AOC will take the stage at the University of Northern Colorado in vulnerable Republican Rep. Gabe Evans’ district. Greeley was also the first stop on Sen. Michael Bennet’s town hall tour on Tuesday night, a tour that takes Bennet to Golden today and Colorado Springs tomorrow. CBS4 reports:

As Colorado’s senior senator walked into the ballroom at UNC in Greeley, nearly everyone in attendance stood to their feet to cheer him. Nearly all clapped, some cheered as he waved to the crowd. And during the town hall Bennet was only scrutinized one time by an attendee who questioned his votes in favor of some Trump administration appointees.

And for those of you looking for a little Cardboard Cory nostalgia, a coalition of local groups including Indivisible Colorado and Working Families Party have organized a town hall set for Saturday at a church across the street from Rep. Evans’ Northglenn offices, where hundreds are expected to turn out to put their concerns in the record with or without Rep. Evans on hand to listen. Asked again when Evans to hold a town hall of his own by CBS, the answer wasn’t encouraging:

When asked if he would do an in-person town hall in Colorado, Evans said he is willing to conduct conversations with constituents who are willing to have civil dialogue.

Which sounds a lot like what Cory Gardner said on his way to a one-term Senate career.

After huge audiences showed up for town halls hosted by Reps. Jason Crow and Brittany Pettersen earlier this month, Colorado Democrats are mobilizing at the grassroots level in opposition to the second Trump administration’s brutal opening rounds–understandable since Colorado voted against everything that’s happening right now in Washington. It took longer for resistance to take hold this time after the shock of Trump’s narrow popular vote victory last November, but the reckless pace of Trump’s assault on America’s bedrock public institutions has forced Democrats out of mourning and back in the fight.

After several months in the political wilderness, for Democrats these events are where hope stays alive.