Democratic Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders brought his campaign to Santa Barbara County today, speaking at rallies in Santa Barbara and Santa Maria.
Sanders again pressed Donald Trump to participate in a one-on-one debate with him before the June 7th California primary. Trump has twice said he would participate in a debate with Sanders, but changed his mind.
During his Santa Barbara City College appearance, he keyed on Santa Barbara County’s interest in environmental issues. Sanders says there should be a total ban on the controversial use of fracking by the oil and gas industries. And, he says there should be a carbon tax to help discourage pollution, and offset its impacts.
Sanders touched on many of the same issues that he talked about Thursday in Ventura, talking about a number of social justice concerns. He told the crowd of more than 6,000 in Santa Barbara people that he would work to make health care available to everyone, as well as free college for all who want it. And, Sanders says the country needs to commit to increasing Social Security payments for those at the lowest end of the scale, and challenged Hillary Clinton to do the same.
He says as President, he would use executive powers if need be to implement immigration reform.
Sanders local campaign stops come as polls say he’s surging in California, and is at a statistical dead heat with Hillary Clinton in the state. However, Clinton still maintains a significant lead in delegates on the road to the Democratic National Convention.
