Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rallied a cheering crowd estimated above 30,000 in downtown Denver Friday night, urging supporters to fight back against the Trump administration and its wealthy allies.

“The reason we are here today is, we will not allow America to become an oligarchy,” Sanders said. “This nation was built by working people, and we’re not going to let a handful of billionaires run the government.”

The former presidential candidate, a registered independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, railed against moves by President Donald Trump and adviser Elon Musk to shrink the federal government and drew sustained booing from the crowd when he accused Republicans of taking aim at Social Security, Medicaid and the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Since the Republicans’ inauguration in January, Trump has laid off thousands of federal employees, canceled grants and shuttered entire agencies. Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency have played a key role in these actions.

The Trump administration has argued that the federal government is too bloated and too much money is lost to waste and fraud. Trump officials often point to the government’s $36 trillion debt and how it ran a $1.8 trillion deficit last year. To Trump, the changes begin with shrinking the size of the federal bureaucracy.

“What the right wing wants us to do is to turn on each other,” Sanders said. “They want to divide us up by the color of our skin or where we were born or our sexual orientation. I’m not a mathematician, but I do know that 99% is a hell of a lot bigger number than 1%.”

Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive Democrat nicknamed AOC, has joined Sanders on this week’s Western leg of the “Fighting Oligarchy” tour, with stops in Nevada, Arizona and Colorado.

Although he repeated the word frequently throughout his roughly 20-minute speech, Sanders paused near the beginning to draw attention to his use of “oligarchy,” which means government by the few.

“A few years ago, when I’d use the word oligarchy, they wouldn’t know what I was talking about,” he said, drawing laughter. “They know what I’m talking about now.”

Added Sanders: “We can have a government and an economy that works for all of us, not just the 1%.”

The Denver event, held at Civic Center Park, boasted by far the largest turnout on the tour, even besting crowds Sanders drew on the presidential campaign trail, he noted moments after taking the stage.

“I’ve got to say, when you run for president two times, you do a lot of rallies,” Sanders said. “I have never, ever had a rally as large as this.”

Earlier in the day, a crowd overflowed an arena on the University of Northern Colorado campus in Greeley, with more than 11,000 people packed inside and hundreds more outside.

Sanders’ tour has mostly targeted congressional districts won by Republicans in 2024, including the 8th Congressional District seat that includes Greeley. U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans, a former state lawmaker, unseated the Democratic incumbent there last year by just under 2,500 votes in the state’s closest congressional race and is considered vulnerable in next year’s midterms.

Evans got shout-outs from Ocasio-Cortez on his home turf and in Denver, both times alluding to Evans not having held a town hall, either in person or virtually, since taking office.

“I was just at Gabe Evans’ district earlier today, and 11,000 of his constituents would like a word with him,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

A spokeswoman for Evans mocked the notion that the two progressive stars had brought their road show to Weld County, one of the top-producing oil and gas counties in the country.

“Democrats may not know what their brand is right now, but Congressman Gabe Evans knows his,” said Delanie Bomar, Evans’ communications director, in a written statement. “Congressman Evans is fighting for lower costs, safer communities and making the American Dream possible for all Coloradans. His common-sense approach stands in stark contrast to AOC and Bernie Sanders’ extreme, anti-oil and gas rhetoric.”

At the Denver rally, Ocasio-Cortez name-checked her Democratic colleagues in Congress from Colorado, including describing U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette of Denver as a powerful champion for health care reform, and praising U.S. Rep. Brittany Pettersen of Lakewood for traveling across the country with her 4-week-old newborn earlier this month to vote against the Republicans’ budget plan.

Ocasio-Cortez also had some stern words for fellow Democrats, who are in the minority in both chambers of Congress but have been taking heat from constituents who complained they are not doing enough to counter Trump.

“We deserve better, and this isn’t just about Republicans,” Ocasio-Cortez said. “We need a Democratic Party that fights harder for us, too, and that means communities choosing and voting for Democrats and elected officials who know how to stand for the working class.”

Sanders said that contrary to Trump’s claim of a mandate for the sweeping changes he’s enacting, a majority of Americans support the progressive agenda, including treating health care as a right, lowering prescription drug prices, raising the minimum wage, fighting climate change, and supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia.

“None of this stuff is radical,” he said. “The American people support this.”

Like Ocasio-Cortez, Sanders trained some of his fire on Democrats, characterizing the party as overly reliant on big-money campaign contributions.

“Within the Democratic Party, there are billionaires who have undue influence, and there is a reason why,” Sanders said. “For the last 30 or 40 years, Democrats have turned their backs on the working class in this country. So, when we talk about where we are, where we’ve got to go — maybe most importantly, we’ve got to get rid of this damn Citizens United.”

The Supreme Court decision mentioned by Sanders is one of a pair of rulings issued during the Obama administration that opened the doors to unlimited campaign spending.

A handful of Republicans organized by former Weld County Commissioner and state GOP chair candidate Lori Saine and the Colorado Republican Party showed up at both events to protest what Saine described as the tour organizers’ “socialist agenda.”

“The radical left will be loud — but we will be LOUDER,” Saine said in an email promoting the protest. “This isn’t just a rally — it’s a message that Colorado stands with Trump, and we will never surrender to socialism!”

Saine told Colorado Politics that as many as 10 counter-protesters showed up in Greeley and seven joined her in Denver.

“We had a strong, committed group of patriots join us today, and I’m incredibly proud of the energy and message we brought,” she said in a text message. “The people who came today represent the backbone of Colorado: hardworking Americans who are tired of being steamrolled by radicals. We showed up with purpose, and we will grow our ranks with working families.”