Bernie Sanders is coming to Columbia for Martin Luther King Day rally

U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders is the latest presidential contender to plan a visit to South Carolina.

Sanders will speak at the annual King Day at the Dome rally at the State House on Jan. 21, the S.C. NAACP confirmed Tuesday.

The independent Vermont senator is the second potential candidate for the Democratic nomination added to the event. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., also will speak at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day event.

The rally has been a platform for presidential candidates in the past. Sanders last spoke there before the state’s Democratic primary in 2016, along with Hillary Clinton and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. Sanders went on to finish a distant second to Clinton in that primary.

Sanders is one of a number of candidates expected to jump into the race for the Democratic nomination in 2020. He made an appearance in Columbia in October at a “Medicare for All” rally ahead of the November midterm election.

South Carolina will hold the first-in-the-South Democratic presidential primary on Feb. 29, 2020.

This story was originally published January 8, 2019 at 4:25 PM.

Bristow Marchant

The State

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Bristow Marchant covers local government, schools and community in Lexington County for The State. He graduated from the College of Charleston in 2007. He has almost 20 years of experience covering South Carolina at the Clinton Chronicle, Sumter Item and Rock Hill Herald. He joined The State in 2016. Bristow has won numerous awards, most recently the S.C. Press Association’s 2024 education reporting award.  Support my work with a digital subscription