LOS ANGELES — Sen. Bernie Sanders came and went, with two California visits inspiring “Bernie-chella” headlines. He, his populist heiress — Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — and organizers of their “Fighting Oligarchy” event in downtown Los Angeles boasted that at 36,000, it was the largest rally he’d ever held. 

The real test of political might, however, is coming this week in places like Palm Desert and Anaheim. 

That’s when, advocates predict, hundreds of people will show up outside of congressional Republicans’ offices to say that cuts to Medicaid would hurt people with disabilities. And in doing so, Democrats hope, they’ll send a warning about the 2026 midterm elections long before any of those Republicans even has an opponent.

Sure, the undertone of the Sanders-AOC music festival was national politics. The rally inspired days of Fox News segments, boisterous California coverage and warmed the hearts of boomers feeling despondent about the first 83 days of the Trump presidency. 

“Ain’t gonna let those lousy billionaires turn me around,” rally performer Joan Baez crooned, a riff on “[Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody] Turn Me Around” that had attendees screaming.

But Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders clearly had another goal: Keep this crowd activated long enough to oust Republicans from power in the U.S. House. In her remarks under the blaring sun on April 12, the New York congresswoman went directly to the vulnerable Republicans in California who could be the key to a House majority.

“They have been voting, just this week, to advance cuts on hundreds of billions of dollars from Medicaid and veterans benefits and Social Security,” Ocasio-Cortez said, to boos. “So that they can take that money and give it to the billionaires who elected them in the form of tax cuts and sweetheart government contracts to companies like SpaceX.”

“And you know who voted for that from California, by the way? David Valadao of California’s 22nd, Young Kim of California’s 40th and Ken Calvert of California’s 41st,” Ocasio-Cortez continued — perhaps the first politician I’ve heard use a massive outdoor rally to name district numbers. “They know that it hurts you, but they are not here to serve us, they are here to serve themselves and the billionaires who have paid them: Oligarchy.” 

A few days later, on April 15, Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez took their tour to Bakersfield and Folsom, cities represented by Republican Reps. Vince Fong and Kevin Kiley, respectively.

In what is no coincidence, Fight for our Health, a coalition of healthcare advocacy groups, handed out flyers at the rally with a list of ways to take action that included upcoming protests at the offices of Valadao, Kim and Calvert. 

The resistance is blasting all nine of California’s GOP members during the congressional recess to protest potential Medicaid cuts. Judy Mark, president of Disability Voices United, said funding cuts would “devastate” disabled people in the state like her 28-year-old autistic son who rely on community-based services to live independently. 

“There’s a lot of people who are very upset right now and they are looking for something to do,” Mark said in an interview as she was heading to Palm Desert for the event planned outside Calvert’s office Monday. 

She said the nonpartisan group is helping to organize events that might see fewer than 100 in some areas, and thousands and even some civil disobedience in Orange County. Many of the participants are people with disabilities themselves, risking their own health to keep the focus on the Republican members who will be considering the cuts in the coming months on Capitol Hill. 

Some of the most active attendees at the events are not Democrats, Mark said, noting she expects a Republican with epilepsy and autism who voted for Rep. Jay Obernolte to speak outside the California Republican’s office this week in opposition to any cuts.

Mark said the “Fighting Oligarchy” events did drive interest to mobilize and motivate people, and she urged anyone who is frustrated with what’s happening in Washington to “stop what they are doing right now to join us in this effort to fight these cuts,” and to keep the attention on Congress.

“If we unite, we can really fight back against the intimidation and the destruction of the systems that were created [decades] ago to support us,” Mark said. 

Lisa Dieckmann, 71, said at the rally she’s more “energized” than ever to do something to resist the Trump administration and she’s been attending “Hands Off” events all month. “I’m appalled like everybody else here,” said Dieckmann, who stood out amongst the Los Angeles crowd with a “Make Orwell Fiction Again” bumper sticker affixed to her chest. “I never thought I would see this.”

Back in 2017, similar efforts started early at the offices of GOP Rep. Darrell Issa. Protests, which included inflatable chickens, lasted for months. Issa opted to retire ahead of the midterms the next year, when his seat flipped to a Democrat as the party reclaimed control of the House in 2018. (Issa returned to Congress in 2021 following a win in another district, and the Medicaid protests will be outside his office Wednesday.)

It’s way too early to know if these efforts could pick up momentum or similarly translate into enough electoral victories to oust Republicans. Plus, California’s top-two primary will not determine the fields for more than a year. The Democratic Party also has seen a dramatic decline in popularity. 

Ocasio-Cortez did not spare Democrats in her criticism. “This isn’t just about the Republican attacks on working people, L.A. We need a Democratic Party that fights harder for us too,” she said, to huge cheers. She pointedly praised California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam B. Schiff and the state’s Democratic delegation for opposing a spending bill earlier this year to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year, “when other Democrats caved.” 

“Support Democrats who actually fight, because those are the ones who can actually defeat Republicans,” she said. “You know what that means: We have to start working now to give David Valadao, Young Kim and Ken Calvert the boot and replace them with a brawling Democrat who will stand for the working people of California.”

In all, Ocasio-Cortez’s 23-minute speech was both wonky and a call to action. She talked about breaking through divides and complained about President Donald Trump, in addition to calling for a ban on members of Congress holding and trading individual stock. There is too much corporate influence, she argued.

When she was put on the influential Energy and Commerce Committee, her office phone started ringing off the hook and her inbox was flooded with messages from “every corporate lobbyist under the sun,” she said. “They all wanted to be my best friend.” 

The political observer in me was fascinated by Ocasio-Cortez’s ability to weave from local to national. I’ve covered Sanders for more than a decade and have always been intrigued by his undeniable dazzling of young people. At the Los Angeles rally, with a crowd of all ages, there was a clear indication that Ocasio-Cortez is picking up where Sanders left off. The message: Fight.

“They know that the only chance they have to get away with such an unpopular agenda, to get away with stealing in plain view, is to stoke deep divisions among us along lines of race, identity and culture, to keep us fighting and distracted,” she said. “This has been the big-money playbook, not just now, but for decades.” 

That’s why Trump is no aberration, she said. “He is the logical, inevitable conclusion of an American political system dominated by corporate and dark money,” she said. “And if we are here to defeat him, we must defeat the system that created him.”  

For Yvette Pompa, a children’s librarian from Pasadena, it’s about a moral compass, she said, and the actions she’s seen from the Trump administration are breaking her heart. She’s been getting involved politically by making calls, and said Ocasio-Cortez’s words “fired me up.”

“I have to be here to fight for all kids. And I don’t want to see any more children in cages — my stomach hurts,” Pompa said. “It’s just wrong, so I’m here like all of us, and hopefully collectively we can make a difference. I can’t give up yet.”

Christina Bellantoni is a former editor-in-chief of Roll Call and is now a professor of professional practice and the director of the USC Annenberg Media Center. Contact her at Christina.Bellantoni@usc.edu.