More than 20,000 people turned out to see Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders during two campaign stops in Minnesota on Tuesday, according to The Washington Post.
{mosads}“My God, what a turnout,” Sanders said in St. Paul as the crowd chanted, “Bernie, Bernie, Bernie.”
More than 14,000 people showed their support for the senator in Minnesota’s capital. An estimated 6,000 people showed up for Sanders’s rally in Duluth, several hours away in northeastern Minnesota.
Sanders is traveling back to Washington to meet with President Barack Obama in the Oval Office on Wednesday.
The Minnesota rallies come days before the Iowa caucuses. Sanders has gained momentum in the first voting state, shrinking front-runner Hillary Clinton’s lead.
Minnesota hosts its primary on March 1.
“Minnesota is a Super Tuesday state where we have a lot of support and like our chances,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs told the Post when asked why the campaign chose to divert its attention away from Iowa.