Tlaib to join Sanders at campaign rally in Detroit

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), one of the most prominent progressives in the House, will join presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) at a rally in Detroit this weekend, Sanders’ presidential campaign announced Tuesday.

The Sanders campaign said the two lawmakers will be joined Sunday “by local leaders and activists fighting for economic, environmental and racial justice, and against the corporate assault on working families across America.”

{mosads}Tlaib, a member of the group of four progressive freshman lawmakers known as “the squad,” is anticipated to announce her endorsement for Sanders as the Vermont senator seeks to fortify his left flank against a surging Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), two other “squad” members, have already endorsed Sanders.

“Proud to endorse @SenSanders for President, glad that @AOC and @RashidaTlaib are on board too. It’s time,” Omar tweeted last week.

Proud to endorse @SenSanders for President, glad that @AOC and @RashidaTlaib are on board too. It’s time https://t.co/2mAmXJiKxv

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) October 16, 2019

Tlaib’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill as to whether she intends to announce her endorsement at Sunday’s rally.

The appearance with Tlaib shortly after last weekend’s New York City rally with Ocasio-Cortez could help give Sanders a shot in the arm as sliding poll numbers and a heart attack spark questions about his campaign’s viability. Warren has also worked to take a bite out of Sanders’s progressive support in recent months, surging in the polls while rolling out similar proposals with in-depth explanations. 

Sanders’ campaign used the rally with Ocasio-Cortez to try to put those concerns to bed and reenergize his supporters. 

“I’m here to tell you Bernie’s back,” Sanders’ wife, Jane, said at the start of the rally. “He’s healthy. He’s more than ready to continue his lifelong struggle to fight for the working people of America.”

“The only heart attack we should be talking about is the one Wall Street is going to have when Bernie Sanders is president of the United States,” liberal filmmaker Michael Moore added. 

Despite the campaign’s recent hiccups, Sanders still polls in the top three of most national and statewide surveys and remains a fundraising juggernaut, raising $25.3 million in the third quarter of 2019, the most of any candidate.