Thousands lined up at the StubHub center in Carson on Tuesday night for a rally in support of the democratic presidential candidate Bernard “Bernie” Sanders. Sanders spoke out about a variety of issues facing the nation in hopes of garnering voter support and catching up with his democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.

Sanders’ speech was optimistic, even as the race to become the democratic nominee grows increasingly difficult. As of May 19, Clinton is in the lead with 760 pledged delegates and super delegates, however, super delegates aren’t bound to a candidate and can support either candidate at the Democratic National Convention in July.

During Sanders’ speech, he emphasized why he believes his campaign is a successful one, “We are doing something very unusual, we are telling the American people the truth.”

He proceeded to warn the audience that our nation would turn into an “oligarchic form of society” if citizens don’t start striving for change. These kind of “anti-establishment” statements made by Sanders is arguably what has made him, and presumptive republican nominee Donald Trump, such popular candidates among the American populous. Both have made it a major driving force in their campaigns.

In the middle of Sanders’ speech, his wife, Jane O’Meara Sanders informed the Senator that he had won by over 50% in Oregon’s Primary election, taking 34 of the state’s 61 delegates, but the next day, Sanders ended up in a virtual tie with Clinton in the Kentucky primary, slightly behind her with 46.3% of the votes and Clinton with 46.8%. Both took half of Kentucky’s 55 delegates.

This virtual tie makes it unclear if a successful democratic-party nomination is still possible for Sanders, since it was predicted he had to win every state after Oregon in order to convince the super delegates to support him at the DNC.

Among the variety of topics covered in Sanders’ speech were the nation’s environmental problems, his support for universal health care, immigration and his race against Clinton and Trump.

Sanders delegitimized the idea of a Trump presidency, and seemingly spoke on behalf of his supporters, explaining why they would not stand for one, “We will not accept as president a man who wants to give hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to billionaire families like his…We will not accept a president who recklessly talks about using nuclear weapons and changes his mind every day on every issue.”

Concluding his speech, he reminded the audience about the importance of a high voter turnout in elections, and encouraged his supporters to “show the world that you are prepared to help lead our nation into the political revolution.”

American singer and songwriter Jill Sobule performed her song, “When They Say We Want Our America Back,” before a number of guest speakers gave their speeches at the rally. Actors Danny Glover, Nick Zano, Kendrick Samson and Frances Fisher spoke at the rally alongside Los Angeles City Council Member Gil Cedillo. Fisher recalled the moment she knew she felt “the Bern,” it was at a Marianne Williamson Sister Giant session, where Sanders was the keynote speaker.

Williamson had asked the audience at the session to close their eyes and stand up if they would like to see Sanders run for the presidency. Fisher recalled the audience’s reaction, “Every single person, one by one, got up and stood there silently.”

Volunteer Raphael Osorio, stressed the importance of volunteer work to attendees at the rally, he mentioned “the only reason Bernie has gotten this far is because of individual supporters, volunteers, donations and stuff like that. If we could just reinforce that and get a huge support in California, we can get the most people out to vote and hopefully win the primary.”

Osorio works at the Team Bernie La Volunteer office on W Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Those interested in volunteering can find information at teamberniela.org.