Bernie Sanders Is Coming To The Park West Tonight

By aaroncynic in News on Aug 17, 2015 6:29PM

After drawing large crowds at the Iowa State Fair over the weekend, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders will make a stop in Chicago this evening for a meet and greet fundraiser at the Park West. This marks the Vermont Senator’s fifth official fundraiser since he launched his campaign in April.

The Sun-Times reports Sanders will be joined by former mayoral candidate Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Alderman Susan Sadlowski Garza, who narrowly beat out Rahm Emanuel ally John Pope in the election. Sanders appeared in Chicago in March during the runoff election to campaign for Garcia.

Tickets for the event, which begins at 5:00pm at the Park West, are $50, $250, $750 or $1,000. So far, in what will be the most expensive presidential election in history, Sanders has raised $15.2 million, $10 million of which comes from small donations.
According to the Washington Times, Sanders is starting to close in on Hillary Clinton in some polls in both Iowa and New Hampshire. A CNN/ORC International Poll has Sanders at 31 percent with Hillary at 50, while a Franklin Pierce University/Boston Herald Poll has the Senator leading Hillary by 7 points, at 44 percent.

Sanders, who has been the target of several demonstrations at some of his campaign events by people affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement, has recently begun speaking out against racism and police brutality in response to disruptions at events in Phoenix and Portland. speaking at a picnic on Sunday, Sanders said:

“I know that I speak for all of you that we are sick and tired of reading about and seeing videos of unarmed African-Americans being shot. We know that if those individuals were white, the odds are very strong that would not have happened to them.”