Sanders, Omar to hit campaign trail in New Hampshire

White House hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) will hit the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Friday as Sanders works to gin up support ahead of the Granite State’s first-in-the-nation primary. 

The two will host a town hall meeting at Southern New Hampshire University, give keynote remarks for the New Hampshire Young Democrats’ Granite Slate Awards and hold a rally at Nashua Community College.

The swing through New Hampshire is the first time Omar, a progressive firebrand who’s made waves in her first term in Congress, will campaign with Sanders since announcing her endorsement for him at a rally in Minneapolis last month. 

“In the sea of corruption, he continuously stood for justice and never bowed down to special interests,” Omar said in November. “That’s the resolve we need in a president.”

Omar is a member of a group known as “the Squad,” which consists of four progressive women of color who were elected to the House in 2018. Besides Omar, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) have endorsed Sanders, while Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) has endorsed Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sanders’s top progressive rival. 

Sanders and Tlaib held a rally in Detroit in October, while Ocasio-Cortez, arguably the highest-profile member of the Squad, has already traveled across the country with the Vermont Independent. 

Sanders is locked in a tight race in New Hampshire, as polls indicate a fluid top tier among him, Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden and South Bend, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg.

The Vermont senator likely has high hopes for the Granite State’s primary given that he won there in 2016 over Hillary Clinton and primary voters in New Hampshire have a record of rewarding candidates from neighboring states.