Bernie Sanders Rally at the Colonial Theater 3/10/19

United States Sen. Bernie Sanders' pitch to bring his progressive vision to the White House was welcomed by supporters Sunday in the Granite State. "We live in an unprecedented moment in American history," the presidential candidate told attendees of a rally in the Colonial Theatre in Keene, N.H., following one in Concord, N.H. "When you live in an unprecedented moment, you need an unprecedented response, which is what this campaign is about." Marit Bjerkadal of Bellows Falls has been waiting to see the senator speak and said there were a million reasons to come to Sunday's rally. This time, the stars aligned and I got here," the Bellows Falls resident said while trying to locate a friend as the venue quickly filled with other supporters and Roots of Creation performed. Kristan Tilton of Troy, N.H., who worked on the 2016 campaign and described it as a "wonderful" experience, said she was not fully committed to Sanders this early on but was glad to see the senator move the Democratic party to the left. Universal health care resonates with Tilton, who said no one should go broke paying medical expenses. Christian Drake recently moved to Keene and hopes to catch as many of the Democrats running for presidents who come through town while campaigning. "There's a lot more choice this time," he said, planning to vote for whoever will bring dignity back to the United States since the election of Donald Trump. "I feel like we lost so much. It's denied to the average American and whoever is in a targeted or minority group." Sanders, who called Trump "the most dangerous president in our lifetime" and "an embarrassment to the country," thanked attendees for being part of a political revolution that will transform the U.S. and work for all Americans. "We will no longer accept 46 percent of all new income going to the top 1 percent," he said, noting that many people across the country work two to three jobs and live paycheck to paycheck. "We will no longer accept a situation in which, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, our younger generation will, if we don't turn it around, have a lower standard of living than their parents — lower wages, higher debt, unaffordable housing, less mobility — not to mention that we are now leaving our children with a national debt of $22 trillion." Tristam Patoine, a student at Keene State College, said it was no secret that his classmates will have some of the highest student debt in the U.S. when they gradate. "If I stay in New Hampshire, I'll also find it very difficult to establish a life here," he said onstage before Sanders appeared, citing high property taxes and very low minimum wage in the state.