The nine-state tour spanned key regions where Democrats are hoping to improve their electoral outcomes. A number of the stops were in states where Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign caught fire, like Maine and Utah, and his crowds were still feeling the Bern.
The “Come Together Fight Back Tour” was announced a few weeks after a blistering DNC fight that saw Perez beat Sanders’ choice for chair.
Yet media coverage of the rallies captured lingering frustration with the party among Sanders and many of his diehard followers. There were enough messy moments for the Republican National Committee to blast out a video Monday skewering the tour as a failure.
The tour began April 17 in Portland, Maine. Attendees gave Sanders a rock-star reception but were leery of Perez. Boos erupted periodically throughout the tour at the mention of Perez or the Democratic Party.
“I know we have a lot of work to do in the Democratic Party,” Perez told the Portland crowd, according to Maine Public Radio. “And we have to earn your trust, and we earn your trust by putting Democratic values into action, folks. ”
Perez, who supported Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, was not Sanders’ first choice to run the DNC. Sanders preferred Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., a longtime progressive who became the first member of Congress to back Sanders’ presidential bid. Vermont’s five voting DNC members also supported Ellison, who narrowly lost the post to Perez in February.
At the time, Sanders offered lukewarm congratulations to Perez, saying that “it is imperative that Tom understands that the same-old, same-old is not working.”
In a joint statement announcing their nationwide tour, Sanders and Perez expressed a vision for “a government which represents all Americans, not just Wall Street, multinational corporations and the top 1 percent.”
Throughout the tour, the two leaders made a few overtures to each other, but tension remained in the air, according to press reports.
Perez referred to Sanders as “my friend” during his warmup remarks throughout the week, while Sanders thanked the chairman for the introduction without offering much other praise. And much as in his campaign stump speech, Sanders offered a fiery indictment of what he considers the failures of the Democratic Party.
“Our job is to radically transform the Democratic Party, to transform the Democratic Party into a 50-state party which does not continue to ignore half of the states in our country, including some of the poorest states in America,” Sanders said in Maine. “Our job is to create a democratic Democratic Party, a grass-roots party where decisions are made from the bottom on up, not from the top on down.”
In Miami on Wednesday, Sanders roared that “Donald Trump did not win the election, the Democratic Party lost the election.”
Also Wednesday, the Vermont senator reiterated his identification as an independent in an MSNBC interview alongside Perez — an awkward exchange that showcased key rhetorical differences. Then, over the weekend, Sanders said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that “the model of the Democratic Party is failing.”
Although Sanders has caucused with the Democrats in Congress, he has long been adamantly independent. Most famously, during his 1986 bid for Vermont governor, Sanders referred to Republicans and Democrats as “Tweedledum and Tweedledee.”
Today, although Sanders remains an outside agitator, his ideas are being more broadly embraced by the electorate. A recent Harvard-Harris poll shows Sanders is the most popular active politician among voters across America. An ABC News/Washington Post poll released this week suggested that 67 percent of the country thinks the Democratic Party is out of touch with American concerns.
Sanders’ popularity has given him great power to shape the Democratic Party’s platform and messaging, and he was given a Senate leadership position in January. Today, his endorsement is one of the most coveted in politics.
Still, Sanders’ refusal to wholeheartedly embrace the Democratic Party in its current form could make life awkward for some of the party’s more moderate members. During last week’s tour, Sanders caused a stir when he told The Washington Post that Jon Ossoff — a Georgia Democrat running for the U.S. House seat vacated by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price — is “not a progressive.”
The remark frustrated Democratic officials, who criticized Sanders for dinging a candidate who has attracted significant support in recent weeks. The Vermont senator walked back his remarks in a subsequent statement, saying that “it is imperative that Jon Ossoff be elected congressman from Georgia’s 6th District and that Democrats take back the U.S. House.”
“I applaud the energy and grass-roots activism in Jon’s campaign,” Sanders added. “His victory would be an important step forward in fighting back against Trump’s reactionary agenda.”
But Sanders offered further skeptical remarks to Vice News last week. Asked by the network if Democrats were receptive to Sanders’ demand that the party overhaul its message, the Vermonter responded, “Some are, some aren’t.”
“What about Tom Perez?” the reporter asked.
“Well,” Sanders retorted, “ask Tom Perez.”
