Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

SCRANTON — Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’ campaign hosted the grand opening of its first office in Pennsylvania on Tuesday in downtown Scranton.

Asked why the Electric City was chosen as the site for the first Sanders office in the commonwealth, Ryan Hughes, the campaign’s state director, hinted that he believes the city’s mostly working, middle-class population identifies with the Vermont senator’s message.

“I think the senator’s vision that he discusses as he travels around the county is really reflective of the issues people in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and surrounding areas are dealing with,” Hughes said.

Hughes noted that Sanders “fought” U.S. trade deals, including the North American and Central America free trade agreements and permanent normal trade relations with China, all of which he said “devastated the working class, the middle class,” people he said Sanders has “spent his entire life championing.”

Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, is facing off against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. The Pennsylvania primary election is on April 26 this year.

Hughes’ message on Tuesday was one of thanks to the approximately 75 to 100 volunteers who attended the opening. Those volunteers, he said, will be “making a lot of phone calls and knocking on a lot of doors,” and the office will serve as a hub for the volunteers as they engage in the grass roots activities.

The campaign office is located in the former Scranton Music Works store at 207 N. Washington St., between Subway and Edible Arrangements and across the street from Courthouse Square. It will be open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, Hughes said. Visit the office or www.berniesanders.com to learn more about his campaign.

Sanders
https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/web1_bernie-sanders-portrait-02.jpg.optimal.jpgSanders

By Steve Mocarsky

[email protected]

Reach Steve Mocarsky at 570-991-6386 or on Twitter @TLSteveMocarsky.