EL PASO — Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders drew large and deafening crowds on a campaign swing through the important Super Tuesday state of Texas this past weekend, but one of his most important moments might have been a quiet trip to a Walmart parking lot.
There, away from reporters and cameras, Sanders visited a 30-foot golden obelisk that stands as a memorial to the 21 people gunned down last summer in the deadliest terrorist attack against Latinos in modern history.
For a candidate admired for his consistency on issues such as income equality and climate change, there are two issues on which supporters hope Sanders has evolved: gun safety and immigration reform. With a fresh wave of momentum after a solid third victory in Nevada, Sanders seemed to seek to put those concerns to rest on his weekend tour through Texas, and his visit to El Paso was widely appreciated in a city still feeling the impact of the mass shooting and Trump’s hard-line border tactics.
“I feel like the issues that are very important right now, we are living in right now,” said Rosanna Camarena, 36, a social worker who was leaning toward supporting Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren but wanted to hear what Sanders had to say about the border. She attended a rally here Saturday where he vowed to bring the nation together, in contrast, she said, to President Trump.
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