U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) visited Texas last weekend in October to encourage voter turnout for progressive voters in the midterm elections.  It would be worrying for the Democrat to make a possible political demobilization of young and hardworking voters.

Sanders visited central Texas and then headed South to the Rio Grande Valley, where he held a rally with Michelle Vallejo, who is running for the 15th Congressional District.  South Texas is a region of constant advances from Republicans, especially among the Hispanic electorate, hoping to capitalize on President Joe Biden's poor performance in 2020.

“The vote right here in this district could determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives, and I think the choice is clear,” Sanders said at the McAllen rally with Vallejo. “The choice is whether we give more tax breaks to billionaires and cut Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, education and other needed programs — or whether we stand up for the working class of this country. Michelle Vallejo is on theright side”.

Candidate Michelle Vallejo narrowly defeated a more moderate Democrat in the democratic primary runoff and now faces Republican Monica De La Cruz, who had a fierce contest in the 15th district in 2020 before the redistricting.

Sanders’ visit to Texas came about halfway through the early-voting period — and it came eight days after former President Donald Trump made his own visit to South Texas, hoping to increase turnout for the congressional races. De La Cruz, who has Trump’s endorsement, did not attend the rally, instead addressing the crowd through a brief video message. Some prominent in-state Democrats have been disappointed with national outside groups that have not done any serious TV spending in the 15th District, instead prioritizing the two other South Texas districts. That has left Vallejo to run as a decisive underdog in a district that Republicans already redrew to be more favorable to them”, according to the Texas Tribune.

“In her speech, Vallejo continued to embrace Sanders’ signature proposal — the single-payer health care model known as Medicare for All — saying she is ‘running to fight for Medicare for All because our families should not be forced to go to Mexico to get the medical care they deserve’. And Vallejo knocked De La Cruz as an “extremist,” who, among other things, wants to ban abortion without exceptions for rape or incest. De La Cruz has said she supports abortion “only to save the life of the mother”, according to the same publication.

Sanders is on an eight-state tour to turn out progressive voters, recently telling The New York Times that he is “a little bit concerned that the energy level for young people, working-class people” is flagging. He held the San Marcos stop at Texas State University.

Sanders said the midterms were an election in which the country’s future was on the ballot, and he blamed right-wing extremists for the threats to democracy. He broadly endorsed Democratic leaders in Texas and encouraged people to vote, but he did not specifically endorse any statewide candidates.