It is an honor to be here alongside Senator Bernie Sanders. I want to share what Bernie has meant to me.
It was Bernie’s campaign for the presidency in 2016 that gave me the language of democratic socialism to describe my politics. And it was Bernie’s Queensbridge rally on October 19, 2019, that was the first political event of my campaign for state assembly.
That was unbeknownst to Bernie and his team. We were canvassing the line to get into his rally. We were asking for $1, $5, $10, emails — whatever we could. And we walked inside to this rally, and I remember the electrifying feeling we felt of a campaign reborn and a movement reborn alongside every single borough of this city.
And when Bernie walked out to “Back in Black” by AC/DC — those who were there remember — we felt as if possibility was a fact of life. His campaign continued to inspire so many of us. And as I ran for state assembly for the many months beyond that, we continued to look to him and his campaign and his vision as the compass for the work that we wanted to do in electoral politics.
And we knew that, while everyday New Yorkers did not care very much for a New York State Assembly race, if we just had a watch party for a Bernie debate, we could finally get them. We could get them if we said it was about Bernie.
I share this because I know that for so many here, it is a similar story. It is a similar story of seeing yourself in a movement, in a campaign, in a politics that you were told for so long was impossible to find. We know that the fight for each and every person to live a dignified life is a fight that is very popular across this country.
It was Bernie’s campaign for the presidency in 2016 that gave me the language of democratic socialism to describe my politics.
Many of you here, myself included, first knew of Bernie as a senator, as a candidate for president. But before that, Bernie was the mayor of Burlington, a four-term mayor. And in the…
Auteur: Zohran Mamdani
