Sanders Joins AOC, Bowman at St. Mary’s Park Rally
Rep. Jamall Bowman gets the crowd worked up during a last-minute campaign rally in St. Mary’s Park in Mott Haven on June 22, 2024. -Photo by David Greene
By David Greene
Bronx Voice
June 24, 2024
BRONX - Senator Bernie Sanders, the Independent senator from Vermont joined Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and Rep. Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) at a last minute campaign rally held at St. Mary’s Park in Mott Haven on June 22.
The rally, hosted by Cortez, was a final push to get out the vote before Tuesday’s Democratic primary election in New York City. With temperatures in the upper 80’s, many in the crowd of over 1,000 were clustered around sections of the park covered by shade. The rally began with speeches from members of Teamsters Local 202, SEIU / 1199 and the New York State Nurses Association.
Independent Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont made a last-minute appeal to voters in support of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jamaal Bowman during a campaign rally in St. Mary’s Park on June 22, 2024. -Photo by David Greene
Recalling Bernie Sanders’ rally at St. Mary’s Park in 2016, Cortez told the crowd, “There is a reason why eight years ago, when the first major Jewish candidate for president, a democratic socialist, came to New York—he came to this park.”
Cortez continued, “I was in that crowd that day. There is a reason why two years later, after that rally, the youngest woman in American history was elected to Congress. There is a reason why she was a Puerto Rican waitress from the Bronx.”
The rally, held to help Bowman overcome the apparent 10-1 spending ratio by challenger George Latimer, the current Westchester County Executive, who according to the Sanders camp, has received over $14 million in campaign donations from AIPAC’s super PAC in an effort to unseat Bowman. The incumbent is down double digits according to the latest polls.
At the start of the rally Rep. Nydia Velazquez (NY-7) told the crowd, “We need leaders like Jamaal Bowman in Congress advocating for us and standing for environmental justice. The same can be said about reforming our public school system in this country.”
Velazquez added, “Jamaal Bowman is not willing to compromise his values regardless of the consequences.”
Bowman told the cheering crowd of supporters, “AIPAC is scared to death. That is why they are spending record amounts of money in this race—because they are afraid. They have already lost because this district, the American people and the world are with us.”
Bowman added, “They are in this race because we call for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and we’re going to keep calling for the permanent ceasefire.”
Sanders, 82, came out onto the stage as John Lennon’s “Power to the People” was played on the sound system. Sanders told the crowd, “I’m here today because this election is one of the most important in the modern history of America.”
“This election,” Sanders continued, “is about whether or not the billionaire class and the oligarchs will control the United States government. And our view is no they won’t.”
Sanders concluded, “What this campaign is about is telling the billionaires, and their greed, and their super PACs—they are not going to destroy American democracy. On that issue, every person who votes for the Democratic Party has got to be united. We stand together.”
During the rally EMS treated at least two individuals, a man and a woman who most likely suffered a heat-related illness.
After the rally, Mott Haven resident Alex Brown recalled, “I thought it was really great, very empowering. It makes us excited to know we’re going to win the primary on Tuesday.” The young woman said of Bowman’s speech, “I thought Bowman did an excellent job, really reminding everyone what he is up against.”
As the crowd exited the way they had entered the park, they were redirected by a few dozen NYPD officers who were blocking a crowd of about 200 pro-Palestinian demonstrators protesting Bowman and Cortez that was organized by the group “Within Our Lifetime.”
One member of that group, who declined to be identified and would only say he was a “lifelong New Yorker.” He told the Bronx Voice, “I counterprotested the AOC, Jamaal Bowman and Bernie Sanders rally in the Bronx to call out their war crimes, complicity with the on-going holocaust in Gaza, and their inefficacy in bringing about any meaningful change to the working-class people of the Bronx.”
Election Day is Tuesday, June 25, and polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., to find your polling site as well as additional information on the election and candidates, visit the New York City Board of Elections website at: www.vote.nyc/elections.
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