About 300 people braved the intense heat and humidity to support Representative Jamaal Bowman for a final push to get out the vote before Tuesday’s Democratic primary election.
Independent U.S. Senator of Vermont and twice former Democratic presidential primary candidate, Bernie Sanders, joined Bronx Democrats, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), and Rep. Nydia Velázquez (NY-7), who represents parts of Brooklyn, stump for Congressman Bowman at the last-minute campaign rally organized by AOC’s campaign team in St. Mary’s Park in the Mott Haven section of The Bronx on Saturday, June 22nd. Although Bowman’s district lies well north of Mott Haven and Hunts Point, AOC, his fellow progressive in Congress used her bully pulpit to stump for her colleague in the South Bronx’s biggest park.
“Our brother Jamaal Bowman is under attack,” said Ocasio-Cortez, to loud applause. “He’s being primaried by racism. He is being primaried by greed. He is being primaried by corruption of our politics, and we cannot let them win.”
Westchester Executive George Latimer is running against the progressive who has backed the Palestinian cause throughout Israel’s incursions into Gaza, for his 16th district congressional seat, the North East Bronx and Westchester County. Bowman wasn’t the first Congressman to demand a cease-fire in Gaza, but was one of the most outspoken opponents of Israel’s attack on the Palestinian people.
Rep. Bowman is now the primary focus of AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee)’s continuous effort to silence Israel’s detractors. That choice was undoubtedly influenced by history: the Zionist lobby lost one of its most dependable votes in Congress when Bowman unexpectedly defeated nine-term incumbent Eliot Engel in 2020, following a brief national reckoning on race following George Floyd’s murder.
John Lennon’s “Power to the People” was pumping through the sound system when Sanders, 82, entered the stage. “I’m here today because this election is one of the most important in the modern history of America,” the seasoned progressive senator told the assembly. “This election 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.”
The Wu-Tang Clan’s 1997 anthem “Triumph” was then blasted through the speakers as Bowman took the stage. Before beginning his stump speech with the assertion that “Our movement is more powerful than their money,” the self-described “hip-hop congressman” sang along for a few lines, “Battle-scarred Shogun, explosion, when my pen hits tremendous.”
A few dozen members of the NYPD blocked a gathering of about 200 pro-Palestinian protestors organized by the group “Within Our Lifetime” as the Bowman supporters left the park in the same direction that they had come.
Election Day is Tuesday, June 25, and polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. Visit the New York City Board of Elections website at www.vote.nyc/elections to find your polling place and for more details about the election and candidates.
