Editor's note: Updated to include Sen. Sanders' rally in National City. The presidential campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders held rallies Saturday in San Diego’s South County.
Former President Bill Clinton urged voters to support his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, in the California primary next month.
“We need you to support Hillary on June 7. She needs to go into that convention with the wind at her back," Bill Clinton said.
"We need to bring everybody together and go out there with the wind at our backs, with confidence in the future of this country," he said. "If we have the right leader, the best change-maker I have ever known, you can make it happen in California on June 7."
The nation's 42nd president spoke to a crowd of hundreds of supporters packed into the gymnasium at Bonita Vista High School. Their enthusiasm did not wane despite his being about an hour late to the event. An overflow crowd was led to an area outside the gym.
"There's only one person with a record of getting things done as first lady, as a senator, as secretary of state, with Republicans in Congress," Clinton said to a cheering audience.
"And only one person who has a remote chance to both keep us safe in a dangerous world and make good things happen and give us the space we need to grow and lead the world out of this mess we're in and all these crazy conflicts that are interfering with you living your future," he said.
Hillary Clinton's opponent for the Democratic nomination, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, appeared at a rally Saturday night at National City's Kimball Park. Sanders was introduced by comedian George Lopez.
“Nothing is over yet, and this movement is still going on,'' Lopez said during his introduction. “I want you to have money. I want you to have an education. I want the police to leave us alone.”
Sanders stuck to familiar themes in his speech.
“Together we are going to create an economy that works for all of us, not just wealthy contributors,” he told the cheering crowd. “(America needs) a democracy that does not mean a campaign finance system in which billionaires buy elections.”
“We need a massive federal jobs program to put our people back to work,” Sanders said. He added that the federal government could create such jobs by rebuilding America's infrastructure, including water treatment facilities and roads.
Sanders said he supports the right of states to legalize marijuana and said he would vote for the California ballot initiative to do so if he lived
here. He also called on America to “invest in young people in jobs and an education, not in incarceration” and to “make public colleges and
universities tuition-free.”
Hillary Clinton’s campaign Saturday announced that the candidate will make a long campaign swing through California next week. She will appear Monday in the Los Angeles area and then make stops in Orange County, Salinas and San Jose on Wednesday and Thursday.
Apparent Republican nominee Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a rally at the San Diego Convention Center on May 27.
