Democratic presidential candidates prep for local rallies

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are both holding local campaign events Tuesday evening as they rally support ahead of the June 7 California Primary.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has events scheduled in South Los Angeles, Commerce and Riverside while her opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, will preside over rallies in Anaheim, Riverside and San Bernardino.

Preparations were underway Tuesday afternoon as Hillary Clinton’s campaign gets set for a rally at the UC Riverside Campus’ Johnson Family Practice Center at 5:30 p.m. And Bernie Sanders is getting set for a 7 p.m. event at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Benardino.

KESQ and CBS Local 2 will have full coverage of both event in Riverside. We will also be covering Bernie Sanders’ campaign rally in Cathedral City on Wednesday morning.

Southern California campaigning ahead of June 7 Primary

Clinton is scheduled to join Rep. Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, in a discussion on foster care in South Los Angeles, speak at what the campaign has dubbed as a “working families event” at a union headquarters in Commerce and an “organizing event” at UC Riverside.

Sanders is set to hold rallies at the Anaheim Convention Center, Riverside Municipal Auditorium and the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino.

Sanders used a rally at Santa Monica High School Monday night to criticize Clinton for not debating again before the June 7 California primary. Sanders said it was “insulting to the people of California — our largest state — that she is not prepared to have a discussion with me about
how we address the major crises we face.”

“A number of months ago our campaign and her campaign reached an agreement on a number of debates, including one here in California,” Sanders told the crowd, estimated by the campaign to be at 6,750, referring to commitments each campaign agreed to last winter to add debates to a schedule set by the Democratic National Committee.

Jennifer Palmieri, the Clinton campaign’s communications director, said Clinton plans “to compete hard in the remaining primary states, particularly California, while turning our attention to the threat a Donald Trump presidency poses.”

“We believe that Hillary Clinton’s time is best spent campaigning and meeting directly with voters across California and preparing for a general election campaign that will ensure the White House remains in Democratic hands,” Palmieri said.

Clinton was also in Los Angeles Monday, conducting fundraisers in Holmby Hills and Hancock Park, 15 days before the June 7 California primary. Clinton began her visit with a $2,700 per person early evening fundraiser at the Holmby Hills home of Bryan Lourd and Bruce Bozzi, according to an invitation obtained by City News Service. Individuals raising $10,000 were designated as co-hosts of the event and had their pictures taken with Clinton.

The maximum individual contribution under federal law for a candidate seeking his or her party’s presidential nomination is $2,700. Lourd is the managing partner of the Creative Artists Agency talent agency. Bozzi is a co-owner of The Palm restaurants chain. The event was also hosted by Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of the fashion magazine Vogue.

An evening fundraiser in Hancock Park followed, with tickets priced at $1,000. Individuals raising $20,000 will have a photo taken with Clinton.

“Another day, another posh Hollywood fundraiser for Hillary Clinton,” said Natalie Strom of the Republican National Committee. “As her bitter and divisive primary campaign drags on into June against a socialist from Vermont, she turns to her Hollywood friends to finance her scandal-plagued effort to secure the nomination. Unfortunately for Clinton, not even the pages of Vogue could portray her disaster of a campaign in a good light.”

There was no response from the Clinton campaign.

The trip was the 68-year-old Clinton’s 12th to the Los Angeles area since she declared her candidacy on April 12, 2015, and second this month. She held 26 fundraisers during her previous visits.

The 74-year-old Sanders began his day with a rally in the predominantly Latino Eastside community of Lincoln Heights, emphasizing immigration reform, an end to deportations, protecting voting rights and boosting wages.

“In this country, if you work 40 hours a week, you should not be living in poverty,” said Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who would be the nation’s first Jewish president. “That is why I was so proud to work with the workers in the fast food industry who went out on strike from McDonalds and Burger King who stood up and told this nation they cannot make it on the starvation minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. They demanded, and I support a $15 an hour minimum wage — $15 an hour and the right to form a union.”