The Fighting Oligarchy Tour, sometimes subtitled Where We Go from Here, is a series of American political rallies led by

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

U.S. senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician and activist who is the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States Senate, United States senator from the state of Vermont. He is the longest-serving independ ...

and Democratic U.S. representative

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (born October 13, 1989), also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who has served since 2019 as the United States House of Representatives, US representative for New York's 14th congressional distric ...

. It began on February 21, 2025, in

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, with the stated goal to oppose

oligarchy Oligarchy (; ) is a form of government in which power rests with a small number of people. Members of this group, called oligarchs, generally hold usually hard, but sometimes soft power through nobility, fame, wealth, or education; or t ...

and the influence of billionaires and corporations in U.S. politics. A segment covering the western U.S. began on March 20 in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, Nevada. 34,000 people attended a March 21 rally in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

, Colorado, bigger than any event held by the Democratic Party at the time, and with a bigger audience than any during Sanders's two presidential campaigns. This was followed by a crowd of 36,000 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, California, on April 12. The tour has featured speeches, musical performances, and efforts to promote policies such as

universal healthcare Universal health care (also called universal health coverage, universal coverage, or universal care) is a health care system in which all residents of a particular country or region are assured right to health, access to health care. It is genera ...

and

wealth tax A wealth tax (also called a capital tax or equity tax) is a tax on an entity's holdings of assets or an entity's net worth. This includes the total value of personal assets, including cash, bank deposits, real estate, assets in insurance and ...

ation.

Background

Sanders launched the tour after

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

's reelection in November 2024, which Sanders cited as evidence of growing corporate influence in governance. Joined by Ocasio-Cortez and other progressive figures, Sanders aimed to address economic inequality and political power dynamics.

Themes and messaging

The tour focuses on opposition to

, characterized as a system where a small, wealthy

elite In political and sociological theory, the elite (, from , to select or to sort out) are a small group of powerful or wealthy people who hold a disproportionate amount of wealth, privilege, political power, or skill in a group. Defined by the ...

holds significant sway over political and economic matters. Speakers address topics such as

income disparity In economics, income distribution covers how a country's total GDP is distributed amongst its population. Economic theory and economic policy have long seen income and its distribution as a central concern. Unequal distribution of income causes e ...

, corporate lobbying, and democratic integrity, advocating reforms including

Medicare for All Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare, in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from pr ...

, a

, and changes to

campaign finance Campaign financealso called election finance, political donations, or political financerefers to the funds raised to promote candidates, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Donors and recipients include individuals, corpor ...

laws. The events also encourage

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or continent movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from volunteers at the local level to imp ...

participation in local and electoral efforts. Other goals include transforming the Democratic Party to bring it closer to its " FDR-era roots" in an effort to make it more popular, and pressuring Republican lawmakers in battleground districts to reject Republican fiscal plans such as cuts to

Medicaid Medicaid is a government program in the United States that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited income and resources. The program is partially funded and primarily managed by U.S. state, state governments, which also h ...

and

tax cut A tax cut typically represents a decrease in the amount of money taken from taxpayers to go towards government revenue. This decreases the revenue of the government and increases the disposable income of taxpayers. Tax rate cuts usually refer ...

s for the wealthy.

Tour stops

Coachella 2025 appearance

On April 12, 2025, Sanders appeared on the Outdoor Stage at

Coachella 2025 Coachella 2025 was a music and arts festival that took place at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California on April 11–13 and April 18–20, 2025. It is the 24th edition of the festival. The headlining performers were Lady Gaga, Green Day, Post ...

to introduce

Clairo Claire Elizabeth Cottrill (born August 18, 1998), known professionally as Clairo, is an American singer-songwriter. She began posting music on the internet at age 13. Clairo rose to prominence following the viral success of the music video for ...

to a crowd of 36,000 people.

Music

Musical performances have accompanied many of the tour's rallies.

Laura Jane Grace Laura Jane Grace (born Thomas James Gabel; November 8, 1980) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter, best known as the founder, lead singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitarist of the punk rock band Against Me!. In addition to Against M ...

and duo Kinsella & Pulse LLC performed at the March 7 event in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and

Poliça Poliça (often stylised in all caps) is an American pop band from Minneapolis, Minnesota, formed in 2011. The band consists of Channy Leaneagh (vocals, synth), Chris Bierden (bass), Drew Christopherson (drums) and Ben Ivascu (drums), with Ryan ...

opened for the March 8 event in Altoona. During the March 8 rally in Warren, Michigan, hardcore punk band

the Armed The Armed (often iconized as ⋈) are an anonymous American hardcore punk musical collective, formed in Detroit, Michigan in 2009. Although no official members of the group are known for absolute certain, the collective has been represented in th ...

performed, beginning their set with a cover of

the Stooges The Stooges or Iggy and the Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, were an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Dave Alexande ...

' "

Search And Destroy Seek and destroy (also known as search and destroy, or S&D) is a military strategy which consists of inserting infantry forces into hostile territory and directing them to search and then attack enemy targets before immediately withdrawing. Fi ...

". Indie rock band

Calexico Calexico () is a city in southern Imperial County, California. Situated on the Mexican border, it is linked economically with the much larger city of Mexicali, the capital of the Mexican state of Baja California. It is about east of San Dieg ...

introduced the March 22 event in Tucson.

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

took the stage during the April 12 rally in Los Angeles, which also featured performances by

Jeff Rosenstock Jeffrey Ernest Rosenstock (born September 7, 1982) is an American musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter from Long Island, New York. He is known for his former bands Bomb the Music Industry! and The Arrogant Sons of Bitches, as wel ...

Dirty Projectors Dirty Projectors is an American indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes. The b ...

Indigo De Souza Indigo De Souza (born July 1, 1997) is an American singer-songwriter from Asheville, North Carolina. Her third album, ''All of This Will End'', was released in April 2023. She has been noted for creating "intimate, anxious indie rock songs

hat A hat is a Headgear, head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorpor ...

...

, the Red Pears, and Raise Gospel Choir. Young led a "Take America Back" chant, then played his song " Rainbow of Colors" and a solo rendition of "

Rockin' in the Free World "Rockin' in the Free World" is a song by Canadian-American singer-songwriter Neil Young, released on Young's seventeenth studio album ''Freedom'' (1989).Buckley, 1206 Two versions of the song bookend the album, similarly to " Hey Hey, My My (Into ...

" on electric guitar, accompanied by

Joan Baez Joan Chandos Baez (, ; born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing mo ...

and

Maggie Rogers Margaret Debay Rogers (born April 25, 1994) is an American singer-songwriter and record producer from Easton, Maryland. After her song "Alaska" was played to artist-in-residence Pharrell Williams during a master class at the Clive Davis Institut ...

. Talia Keys and

I Dont Know How But They Found Me I Dont Know How But They Found Me (stylized in all caps), often shortened to IDKHow (stylized as iDKHOW), is an American indie pop solo project based in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City, Utah, fronted by singer-songwriter Dallon Weekes. It was ori ...

played at the April 13 Salt Lake City rally. For his walk-on song, Sanders continued to use

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

's " Power to the People, as he did in his presidential primary campaigns of

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

Reception

, the tour had drawn over 107,000 attendees across various states. On March 26, ''

Politico ''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American political digital newspaper company founded by American banker and media executive Robert Allbritton in 2007. It covers politics and policy in the Unit ...

'' reported that the Fighting Oligarchy rallies were "bigger than any other events currently being held by Democrats" and that they were acting as a "revival" for

progressives Progressivism is a left-leaning political philosophy and reform movement that seeks to advance the human condition through social reform. Adherents hold that progressivism has universal application and endeavor to spread this idea to human so ...

. Sanders said that two thirds of those who registered to attend the events had never gone to see him or donated to him before. The crowd at the Denver rally was larger than at any event during his

and

presidential runs. These numbers contrasted with low

approval rating An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll, is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions of a population by conducting a series of que ...

s for the Democratic Party. The tour facilitated grassroots organizing, including volunteer recruitment and support for progressive candidates. Progressives supported the tour for engaging supporters and focusing on corporate influence, while media outlets, including ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', observed similarities to historical protest movements such as

Occupy Wall Street Occupy Wall Street (OWS) was a left-wing populist movement against economic inequality, capitalism, corporate greed, big finance, and the influence of money in politics that began in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Financial ...

. Some establishment members of the Democratic Party supported the rallies, including some who had previously criticized Sanders; a vice chair of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the principal executive leadership board of the United States's Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. According to the party charter, it has "general responsibility for the affairs of the ...

Malcolm Kenyatta Malcolm Kenyatta (born July 30, 1990) is an American politician from the North Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A member of the Democratic Party, he serves as the Pennsylvania state representative for the 181st distric ...

, said: "This is not left versus right. This is about flight versus fight." Kenyatta had criticized Sanders in the past. On May 7, 2025,

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

host

Bret Baier William Bret Baier ( ; born August 4, 1970) is an American journalist and the host of '' Special Report with Bret Baier'' on the Fox News Channel and the chief political anchor for Fox. He previously worked as the network's Chief White House C ...

asked Sanders about an April 17, 2025, ''

Washington Free Beacon ''The Washington Free Beacon'' is an American political journalism website launched in 2012. The website identifies as conservative. Eliana Johnson is the website's editor-in-chief. The ''Free Beacon'' has broken stories about states using ra ...

'' article that said that Sanders's campaign committee had used $221,723 in expenditures in the first quarter of 2025 to charter private jets. Sanders replied that when doing multiple rallies per week, "the only way you can get around" in a timely enough manner is by chartering private jets.

References

{{Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Bernie Sanders Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez 2025 in American politics 2025 in women's history Protest marches in the United States