WEST LEBANON — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said Democrats need to focus on the concerns of the working class in order to earn voters’ support in November and he wanted Vice President Kamala Harris to commit to certain progressive agenda items before he’d endorse her presidential campaign.

Speaking to a crowd of just over 200 people in a ballroom at the Fireside Inn and Suites in a town hall meeting Friday afternoon, Sanders referred to former President Donald Trump as a “danger to democracy.”

“It is absolutely imperative for the well-being not only of this country today, but for our kids and future generations that Donald Trump be defeated,” he told the crowd.

While Sanders urged the audience to support Harris’ campaign, he has not yet formally endorsed her, saying on Friday that he wanted to hear solutions to the concerns of the more progressive wing of the party. Those concerns include access to affordable health care, housing and child care, elimination of student debt and the harmful impacts of income inequality.

“It is my strong belief that Kamala Harris, somebody I’ve known for many years, is not going to win this election unless she begins to speak forcefully about the needs of the long-neglected working class of this country,” he said.

Speaking before the Friday event, Sanders emphasized income and wealth inequality, high rates of childhood poverty and a “broken” health care system as issues he would like to see Harris address.

“There is a lot of economic desperation out there,” he said. “We need strong statements” from political leaders.

Sanders, 82, a U.S. senator since 2007, is seeking a fourth term. He is unopposed in the Democratic primary next month.

Meanwhile, Gerald Malloy, 62, of Perkinsville, Vt., is running unopposed for the Republican nomination. Malloy ran an unsuccessful campaign against Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., in 2022, earning 28% of the vote to Welch’s 68.5%. Vermont’s Republican and Democratic primaries are scheduled for Aug. 13.

Sanders, who unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 and 2020, called for more serious discussion of issues instead of “political gossip.”

“The pain that people are experiencing is not being acknowledged by the Democratic Party. And certainly, they are not bringing forth solutions,” he said.

He mocked the idea that Americans can avoid the impacts of income inequality and economic exploitation by avoiding mention of classes.

“There is a huge hunger out there among working people who are asking: ‘Does anybody know what I and my family are going through? Do they know I can afford health care, but I can’t afford child care? That my kids may do worse than I am doing?’ So we got to talk about those issues,” he said.

British folk musician Billy Bragg spoke and performed songs for about 45 minutes before Sanders took the podium.

In addition to several Woody Guthrie songs, Bragg performed an original piece about Grafton called “Freedom Doesn’t Come for Free,” which was a slap at the attempt in the early 2000s by a group of Libertarians to take over the town’s government.

Speaking after his performance, Bragg said that he first met Sanders, whose political views he shares, in 1988 when Sanders was undertaking an unsuccessful bid for Vermont’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Bragg performed a benefit show for that campaign. (Sanders eventually held that office for 16 years.)

When asked to come to West Lebanon on his way to the Newport (R.I.) Folk Festival this weekend, Bragg said it was a case of “right place, right time.”

Several members of the audience were as excited to see Bragg as they were to see Sanders.

“He motivates you and makes you feel like you have agency,” Julie Buschini, of Worcester, Mass., said of Bragg after the event. “He speaks to the working class.”

Buschini is a supporter of Sanders and said that the event was “incredible.” She said she agrees with Sanders that discussions about the working class in the U.S. are “non-existent.” She hopes that Harris, whom she supports, hears Sanders’ message.

The chance to see Bragg brought Gene Bergman and Wendy Coe of Burlington to the Upper Valley on Friday, but they are fervent Sanders supporters as well. They’ve been friends of his since Bergman sat on the Burlington City Council in the 1980s.

“I continue to be incredibly impressed with his perspective,” Bergman said, adding that he hopes that Sanders’ message can slow the Democratic party’s “inexorable march to the center.”

Christina Dolan can be reached at cdolan@vnews.com   or   603-727-3208.

CORRECTION: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., has not yet issued a formal endorseme nt of Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign. A previous version of this story was incorrect on this point.