Sanders says Democrats finally catching up to his ideas

During a stop in Durham on Friday for a campaign rally, Sanders said he believes Democratic voters and even his rivals – not to mention much of the country – are catching up to ideas he's espoused for years.

"We have an agenda that speaks to the needs of ordinary Americans who are getting a little bit frustrated," he said in an interview with WRAL News. "The American people want an economy that works for all people, not just the [top] 1 percent."

Sanders ticked off his agenda to an overflow crowd at the Durham Convention Center: Raising the minimum wage, offering free public college tuition, canceling student debt, reforming the immigration and criminal justice systems, battling climate change and his signature program, Medicare for All to provide health coverage for the nation.

"Health care is a human right, not a privilege," he said in the interview. "If every other country on Earth can guarantee health care to all people, why cannot the wealthiest nation on Earth do it? Of course we can."

He acknowledges his plans are "ambitious," but his opponents use them to attack him, calling it socialism. But Sanders embraces that label.

"What we have now in this country is socialism for the very, very rich. I want democratic socialism for all of us," he said.

He noted that President Donald Trump received $800 million in subsidies and tax breaks to develop luxury housing, the energy industry gets billions in subsidies and breaks every year and online retail giant Amazon paid no federal income tax last year.

"The difference between Trump and me: His policies benefit large corporations and the rich; our policies benefit working families," Sanders said.

"The establishment is getting nervous. That is a good thing," he told supporters at the rally, who chanted, "Bernie! Bernie! Bernie!"

"It ain't Bernie, it is all of us," he responded. "We're in this together."

Some of the people who attended the Durham rally said they hope that message plays well across the country.

"I am not sure, but I am hopeful," Alora Brackett said.

"We just need the Democratic Party to get on board with this," Nikki West said.

He's also launching a $5.5 million ad buy in North Carolina and several other states in advance of the March 3 "Super Tuesday" primaries.

Trump himself has planned a Charlotte rally on March 2.

"If we stand together and we do not allow Trump and his friends to divide us up based on the color of our skin or where we were born or our sexual orientation or our religion or our gender, if we stand together as one people, we will not only defeat Trump, we will transform this country," Sanders said.