Sanders announces Iowa campaign swing with AOC, Michael Moore

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and his surrogates are launching a 4-day campaign swing through Iowa ahead of the state’s first-in-the-nation caucus in less than two weeks.

Sanders’s campaign announced Thursday that the senator would join top campaign surrogates Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and filmmaker Michael Moore at a rally in Ames on Saturday night featuring rock group Portugal. The Man.

The candidate will then join other surrogates at events on Sunday as part of the campaign’s multiday barnstorm of the Hawkeye State culminating in a Sunday night event at the Sioux City Convention Center.

Sanders has been in Washington, D.C., during the past several days for the start of the Senate’s impeachment trial of President Trump, which requires senators to be in attendance during the day six days a week.

Sanders’s campaign was forced to cancel a rally it had scheduled earlier this week due to the trial.

Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who recently endorsed Sanders alongside another key House progressive, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), is also expected to join the senator and others on Saturday for a town hall in Cedar Falls, according to his campaign.

Sanders remains near the top of most polls of Iowa and on top of the pack in New Hampshire, which will hold its primary Feb. 11, a week after the Iowa caucuses. Sanders is battling other top-polling candidates in the Granite State including former Vice President Joe Biden (D) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D).

A national poll of the Democratic field released by CNN on Wednesday found Sanders as the top pick among Democrats, with Biden trailing by just 3 points, while Buttigieg and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) have seen their support drop in recent weeks.

The campaign swing this weekend is Pocan’s first time joining Sanders on the trail, while both Ocasio-Cortez and Moore have stumped for Sanders on the road before. Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Sanders last year following his heart attack and also volunteered on his 2016 campaign.