As the budget fight heats up on Capitol Hill, Sanders held town halls in Omaha and Iowa City on Friday and Saturday in an effort to put pressure on Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) to vote against the looming legislation. 

“One of the reasons that I was in Omaha last night and Iowa City now is that you have Republican members of Congress who won by relatively small margins,” Sanders said during his town hall in Iowa City on Saturday afternoon.

FULL LIST OF EXECUTIVE ORDERS, ACTIONS, AND PROCLAMATIONS TRUMP HAS MADE AS PRESIDENT

Sanders, a longtime independent who caucuses with Democrats, went on to explain to the crowd at the event billed as a national tour to “take on the oligarchy,” that Republicans hold the most narrow House majority in nearly 100 years.

“The Republicans have 218 seats, and Democrats have 215, a three-vote majority. That means if two Republicans tell their leadership that they are not going to slash Medicaid, education, and housing in order to give massive tax breaks to the billionaires, that legislation is defeated,” Sanders said.

“What I’m asking you here in Iowa City is to tell your congresswoman to do just that — vote no on this legislation. If she does that and one other Republican does that, that bill is dead,” he said to cheers from the crowd.

Sanders is taking the Democrats’ redirection into his own hands, getting out of the nation’s capital and meeting working-class voters. In recent interviews, he said he is not interested in mounting a third presidential campaign and instead appears to be laying the groundwork for another progressive Democrat to follow in his footsteps in 2028. At a moment when the party lacks a clear leader, Sanders is attempting to make his move and take charge of the message.

“So, brothers and sisters, we have a lot on the table. We’ve got to fight oligarchy, we’ve got to fight authoritarianism,” Sanders said.

ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, IT’S TRUMP FILING THE LAWSUITS

Emotional town halls were a centerpiece of Sanders’s campaign when he ran for president in 2016 and 2020, often warning that the nation’s richest people had too much power and wealth. Now, he’s relaying a similar message, but this time, he’s directing his comments toward the Trump administration and Elon Musk, the world’s richest person, who is overseeing the firing of thousands of federal workers.

“[Trump] has tried to block funding and in some cases has blocked funding for Medicaid, the Veterans Administration, Head Start, food stamps, homeless veterans,” Sanders said. “Fortunately, the American people have fought back and the courts have stopped them from doing his worst. But, as you heard, he is still trying, and in fact, is throwing out federal workers illegally and unconstitutionally all over the country.”

“He’s 83 years old, and still has the same energy and message that he did back when he first ran in 2015, it’s pretty remarkable,” said a former Sanders campaign staffer who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the situation. “I think what he’s doing is laying the groundwork for the messaging strategy for the midterms in 2026 and beyond.”

“I think you’re seeing Sanders attempt to mount a real resistance strategy against Trump since we’ve seen other Democrats on Capitol Hill who have been skittish and deploying strategies that have not been effective,” the former campaign staffer added.

So many people came out to see Bernie Sanders in Iowa City that he had to give not one, not two but three different speeches to overflow crowds.

2,000+ people on a freezing cold day in a Republican district. pic.twitter.com/tSQABCW5fX

— Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) February 22, 2025

Jeremy Slevin, a senior adviser to Bernie Sanders, posted shots of crowds of people at both locations, writing that Sanders “had to give not one, not two but three different speeches to overflow crowds. 2,000+ people on a freezing cold day in a Republican district,” he posted on X, describing Sanders’s town hall in Iowa City. 

With 2,600 friends in Omaha, NE (plus another 800 in overflow).

Unreal energy for @BernieSanders in one of the most vulnerable Republican districts in the country. pic.twitter.com/sUYHJJjeec

— Jeremy Slevin (@jeremyslevin) February 22, 2025

The day before, Slevin documented a crowd of 2,600 in Omaha and mentioned there were another 800 in an overflow room.

“Unreal energy for [Bernie Sanders] in one of the most vulnerable Republican districts in the country,” he posted on Friday. 

Democrats have been caught flat-footed and have struggled to respond to the sheer volume of executive orders, personnel changes, and policy shifts taking place one month since Trump’s inauguration. Democrats, in recent days, have held news conferences in front of government agencies, tried to force Republicans to take damaging votes on the budget, and have attempted to cast Trump as advancing billionaires’ interests at the expense of the working class.