Bernie Sanders Kicks Off ‘Fighting the Oligarchy Tour’ in West Virginia

WHEELING, W.Va.—Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) brought his message of working-class empowerment to the Mountain State on Aug. 8, kicking off a three-day, four-event campaign to rally grassroots support in opposition to the moneyed interests in both parties. A capacity crowd of some 2,500 turned out to hear the four-term senator and two-time Democratic presidential candidate at the city’s historic Capitol Theater. Sanders’s 40-minute address argued that the last 50 years have seen a historic transfer of wealth from the mass of Americans to the wealthiest 1 percent of its citizens. This accumulation, Sanders said, has concentrated great political power in the hands of a few, worsening the prospects of working people in terms of employment, education, and health....