Massive turnout for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in Iowa City

IOWA CITY, Iowa — An estimated 800 people packed inside the 700-seat Englert Theatre to hear Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour Saturday morning, while easily four times that number didn’t make it inside the Iowa City venue.

In below-freezing temperatures, a line queued blocks from the theater at East Washington Street, around the corner onto South Clinton Street and into the pedestrian mall before the crowds began dissipating after being told the Englert was at capacity, shortly after doors opened at 10:30 a.m. Feb. 22, 2025.

Some spectators arrived as early as 8 a.m., while others who arrived an hour early were directed to an overflow site at the Bread Garden, where Sanders made an unscheduled second stop after he spoke for about an hour at the Englert.

Sanders admitted he didn’t know what the turnout might be when the schedule was made, citing hundreds of people turned away during an overflow appearance Friday in Omaha.

His stops in Iowa and elsewhere on his tour were intentionally chosen, in districts where Republican members of Congress won their last election by slim margins.

Sanders asked the crowd to call their representative — in Iowa City’s case, Mariannette Miller-Meeks — to ask them to vote against the Republican budget resolution, which calls for deep cuts to Medicaid and other programs relied upon by millions of Americans for health care and basic necessities in order to pay for expanded tax cuts for the wealthy.

Miller -Meeks’ Davenport office can be reached at (563) 232-0930.

He noted billionaire Elon Musk’s oversized role in making cuts throughout the federal government, and the history of the United States in overcoming similarly overwhelming adversities.

“If you want to know who is running the U.S. government, simply take a look at Trump’s inauguration,” said Sanders, citing Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg, three of the richest Americans, in a prominent spot, standing behind Trump as he was sworn into office last month. “Those three people standing right behind President Trump own more wealth than the bottom half of American society, 170 million people.”

Sanders noted that Musk invested $270 million in Trump’s campaign “and his reward for that contribution is that he is now arguably the most important person in government, more powerful than Trump.”

Musk’s net worth has escalated since the election, while the billionaire takes away food and medicine for those most in need, he added.

Unlike stump speeches in which politicians make appearances before the main speaker, the Iowa City event featured University of Iowa students, union leaders and a standing ovation appearance by Brian Gibbs, whose Facebook post went viral after he was let go in Musk’s mass firings from his position as a park ranger for Effigy Mounds National Monument in Iowa on Valentine’s Day.

“I am an oath of office to defend and protect the constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic.
I am a work evaluation that reads ‘exceeds expectations,'” Gibbs said, evoking his Facebook post. “I am being trimmed as a consequence of the popular vote… But mostly I’m just tired. I am tired from weeks of being bullied and censored by billionaires… I am tired of wiping away my wife’s tears and reassuring her that things will be OK for us and our growing little family that she’s carrying. Things are not OK. I am not OK… Please friends, stay present. Don’t avert your gaze.”

See photos from a previous Bernie Sanders appearance in Iowa and more from Iowa City, below: