Bernie Sanders campaigns against Donald Trump in Reno

Sanders also urged the crowd of mostly college students to vote for Catherine Cortez Masto to help ensure Democrats retake control of the U.S. Senate.

Cortez Masto is locked in a tight race with Republican candidate Joe Heck.

Electing Clinton and Cortez Masto will ensure that the progressive policies in the Democratic Party platform, from a $15 an hour minimum wage to paid family leave for new parents, will become a reality, Sanders said.

“If we are going to take our country forward in a way that I think all of us know that we have to go, it is absolutely imperative that Donald Trump does not become president of the United States,” he said.

Sanders, an independent U.S. senator from Vermont, said never in modern U.S. history has there been a candidate less deserving of election than Trump.

Trump’s disparaging comments about women, his leadership of the “birther movement” to undermine the legitimacy of President Barack Obama and his insults directed to Hispanics living in the U.S. make him unfit for office, Sanders said.

In comments directed at students in the crowd, Sanders said Clinton and the Democratic Party will also work to provide tuition-free access to in-state public colleges and universities for families with incomes up to $125,000 and allow students to refinance student loans whose interest rates can be as high as 10 percent to 12 percent.

During his 30-minute talk, Sanders also asked students to get involved in passing progressive legislation after the election.

Surrogates for Trump and Clinton are stopping in Northern Nevada this week. Donald Trump Jr. spoke Tuesday and Sanders will be followed Thursday by GOP vice presidential nominee Mike Pence.

Contact Sean Whaley at swhaley@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3820. Follow @seanw801 on Twitter.