Sen. Bernie Sanders televised town hall on Tuesday night to promote single-payer health care, or Medicare for all , drew a live audience of about 1.1 million people all but a few hundred of whom viewed the event online.

For Sanders, whose single-payer health care legislation elicited the support of over one-third of the Senate Democratic Caucus, the 90-minute broadcast at the U.S. Capitol visitors center was an opportunity to promote a top policy priority while thumbing his nose at the corporate media.

This is the first Medicare for all town meeting held in our nations capital. This is the first nationally televised town meeting on Medicare for all, Sanders said in his introductory remarks. And very importantly, this is the first nationally televised Senate town meeting that is taking place outside of corporate media.