In what he described as his largest rally ever, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, spoke to a crowd that filled Denver’s Civic Center on Friday evening, railing against billionaires and President Donald Trump while listeners chanted and nodded along.
“We will not allow America to become an oligarchy,” Sanders said to cheers. “This nation was built by working people, and we are not going to let a handful of billionaires run the government.”
Sanders, speaking alongside U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, visited the city as part of a “Fighting Oligarchy” tour the pair are taking across the country to garner early support for Democrats before the midterm elections in 2026.
“An extreme concentration of power and corruption is taking over this country like never before,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “A better world is possible.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who said the crowd was estimated to be 30,000 people, praised each of Colorado’s Democratic members of Congress while addressing the park.
“We need a Democratic Party that fights harder for us, too. That means communities choosing and voting for Democrats and elected officials who know how to stand for the working class,” she said. “Colorado, I want to thank you for working hard to make that happen.”
She also took the opportunity to call out Republican Rep. Gabe Evans, who narrowly defeated Democrat Yadira Caraveo in the November election to represent Colorado’s 8th Congressional District.
Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders have focused their visits on areas represented by Republicans but that have close enough margins to possibly swing toward Democrats in the future. Earlier in the day, the pair visited Evans’ district, for a rally in Greeley.
The district is likely to be a major fight as Democrats seek to regain footing in Congress. About 11,000 people attended the event, according to Colorado Public Radio.
In a news release Friday, Evans criticized Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez for their policies, including their lack of support for the oil and gas industry.
“Congressman Evans is fighting for lower costs, safer communities and making the American Dream possible for all Coloradans. His common-sense approach stands in stark contrast to AOC and Bernie Sanders’ extreme anti-oil-and-gas rhetoric,” according to the statement.
Bernie, who visited the same Denver park in 2019 when he was competing for the Democratic nomination for president, won that contest in Colorado in 2020 and 2016.
During Friday’s rally, he repeated themes he has long elevated around health care reform, support for Social Security and the power held by the wealthiest Americans.
“What I think is the worst addiction in this country, the most dangerous, is the greed of the oligarchs,” he said. “How much money do you need?”
Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez have visited several cities including Las Vegas and Omaha and will next go to Tucson.
Other speakers in Denver included union leaders and the former commissioner for the Federal Trade Commission, Alvaro Bedoya. President Donald Trump recently fired Bedoya from that position.
People watched from the rooftops of nearby buildings, the stairs of the Denver City and County building and outside of the gated perimeter of the official event. The rally remained peaceful, with crowd members occasionally chanting and shouting in agreement with the speakers. At various times, the crowd chanted Sanders’ and Ocasio-Cortez’s names and phrases such as “tax the rich.”
The speakers and crowd expressed frustrations not only with GOP members of Congress but also with Democrats. The crowd erupted in cheers when Jimmy Williams, general pPresident of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, said he had a message for the Democratic Party: “Get off your ass.”
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