Remember when the question was floating around asking if Colorado was still a swing state? With ballots in the mail and Election Day closing in, Colorado is again gathering the focused attention of campaigns trying to lock in the vote – and not just for the presidency.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders spoke to a large crowd at CU Boulder Monday to rally support for universal healthcare Amendment 69, known as ColoradoCare. Sanders blasted U.S. insurance and drug companies, saying they’re more interested in profits than the health of their customers.
“Millions of people all over this country are watching what you do and are supporting your efforts, stand tall, let’s pass Amendment Number 69,” the former presidential candidate told the crowd at Farrand Field on the CU campus.
“We have a system today that is not designed to keep us healthy, it is not designed to cure disease, it is designed to make huge profits for the insurance companies and the drug companies,” Sanders said, to huge cheers.
The opposition group No on 69 said a number of progressive groups and Democratic elected officials see the proposal as “risky” and too expensive. If 69 passes, the health care system would be the first of its kind in the nation.
For Sanders, it wasn’t his first rally of the day, or for the weekend. Earlier Monday, he was in Fort Collins to help drive the vote for Hillary Clinton at Colorado State University. Just a day before, he appeared alongside Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren to bolster Clinton at a Denver campaign event.
Both presidential candidates, Republican Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton visited the state earlier in October, stopping in Pueblo. Trump’s stop also included a visit to Northern Colorado, holding a rally in Loveland. Continuing to double up on appearances, Trump will again visit the Centennial State Tuesday, rallying in Colorado Springs and the Western Slope city of Grand Junction.
Surrogates have been touring here as well. Tim Kaine helped drive voter registration with Dave Matthews at the National Western Complex. On the other side of the aisle, Donald Trump Jr. had planned an appearance at Boulder’s venerable hangout, The Sink. An event that apparently caught the The Sink by surprise. Owner Mike Heinritz had claimed no communication with the campaign, telling The Daily Camera, “If he wants it to be a campaign event, he can do that outside.”
Trump Jr’s appearance, his second of the day after speaking at a suburban Denver gun club, was instead moved to a Pearl St. commercial space. Gov. Mike Pence will also be coming to Colorado, the Trump campaign announced a Wednesday visit for the VP candidate in Durango.
CPR’s Jim Hill contributed to this report
