An estimated 26,000 people filled the track field at Folsom Lake College on Tuesday as Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Democratic Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallied against corporate power in one of California’s reddest districts.
“This is Trump country?” Ocasio-Cortez said to a cheering crowd, pointing out a plane that flew by with a banner reading “FOLSOM IS TRUMP COUNTRY.” “It sure don’t look like it today.”
The progressive congress members made a stop in Folsom as part of their nationwide “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. The two lawmakers said their campaign’s goal is to spotlight wealth inequality and the dangerous power of the ultra-wealthy.
“We believe in a government of the people, by the people and for the people,” Sanders said. “Not a government of the billionaires, by the billionaires and for the billionaires.”
The crowd clapped, cheered and boo’d during speeches as the two lawmakers criticized figures like Elon Musk and Donald Trump.
Part of the message to the crowd was local: Both Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez repeatedly called out Republican Rep. Kevin Kiley, who represents California’s 3rd Congressional District, where the event took place, for voting in favor of corporate tax breaks and proposed Medicaid cuts.
“Mr. Kiley, I think some of your constituents have a message for you: Don’t vote to give tax breaks to billionaires and cut programs that the working class of this country desperately needs,” Sanders said.
A plane flying a banner reading “FOLSOM IS TRUMP COUNTRY” passes over the crowd during the rally on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.Tony Rodriguez/CapRadio
The tour began in February and has focused largely on Republican-controlled regions. At each stop, the lawmakers have spoken out against billionaires like Elon Musk for their influence over the political system.
Congressman Kevin Kiley calls the visit ‘ironic’
CapRadio spoke with Kiley about Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez visiting Folsom.
In an interview, Kiley called the rally “pretty ironic,” saying the communities he represents are thriving because they’ve “rejected” the radical socialist policies of Sanders and AOC.
“We don’t have the level of crime you see in San Francisco, or the level of homelessness or waste,” Kiley said. “People are moving into our communities because of the quality of life we’ve created.”
Kiley said he supports his constituents’ right to organize and protest, but argued that the progressive message being promoted on stage had already failed California.
“If you look at our state, we lead the nation in inequality, homelessness, real poverty, and underperforming schools,” he said. “That’s the result of one-party rule and policies like the ones Bernie Sanders and AOC are spreading.”
Kiley said he offered to debate Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez while they were in town, but they did not accept his offer.
“That tells you a lot,” Kiley said. “I publicly invited them to participate in a debate about the very policies that they're advocating for and they did not accept that offer.”
Voices from the crowd
Marsha Parker came alone from Stockton for the event.
“What is happening in our country is so sad and it’s so harmful,” Parker said. “I’m so worried about our country that I really want to resist and do anything I can to have my voice heard.”
She said she believes the U.S. is headed toward an oligarchy and praised Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez for taking a stand.
“This is not normal, and we should not be in this position,” Parker added. “This should never have gotten this far. So we need people to fight.”
Many rally attendees expressed frustration not just with Republicans, but with Democrats, as well.
“We’re at a fork in the road,” said Leah Low, who came with her two daughters from Fair Oaks. “Taking the higher ground isn’t always going to get the results we need because the other side doesn’t follow typical rules. I feel like [Democrats] need to fight fire with fire instead of water.”
The crowd looked like a mixing pot of the region. There were college students in Bernie shirts, young kids on top of their parents’ shoulders and older folks wearing sun hats and seated in lawn chairs.
Low said it was important to attend with her daughters to show them that pushing for change takes more than just voting.
“I just love seeing the different people here,” Low said. “People who aren’t usually in marginalized groups, standing up for those who are.”
Carson Beatty, a 21-year-old student at Folsom Lake College, said the rally’s message and Sanders are relatable.
“I’ve got a trans partner, so I’m out here to protect trans rights,” Beatty said. “Bernie just really sings with me on being a humanitarian.”
Beatty added that they don’t believe national Democrats are listening to their voters.
“They’ve been leaning more conservative over the past couple decades,” Beatty said. “I’d love to see a reformation of the Democratic Party that’s more representative of its people.”
Patrick Vales, who drove in from Lake Tahoe, said he showed up because working people need to stick together and demand more.
Thousands of people watch from the track at Folsom Lake College as Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez speak during the "Fighting Oligarchy" tour on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.Tony Rodriguez/CapRadio
“We need one large union of every worker in this whole United States. That’s how we push the poor into the middle class. That’s how we get power to fight back,” Vales said.
Vales added, “Whining about it’s not going to do anything. You have to get out there and organize the people to where they have collective bargaining.”
During the rally, speaker Lorena Gonzalez, president of the California Labor Federation, called on attendees to pick a side in what she described as a growing class war.
“There are no neutrals,” Gonzalez said. “You have to pick a side. And we are on the side of workers and regular people and the Constitution.”
Gonzalez criticized corporations like Amazon and SpaceX for union-busting and exploiting workers.
“Are you with Elon Musk and his Billionaire Boys Club?" she asked the crowd. "Or are you with truck drivers and teachers and TSA agents and health care aides?”
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez addresses the crowd at Folsom Lake College on Tuesday, April 15, 2025.Tony Rodriguez/CapRadio
Ocasio-Cortez said the nation faces a precarious moment.
“We are here together because an extreme concentration of power, greed, and corruption is taking over our country like never before,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “Oligarchy or democracy but we cannot have both.”
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