Independent U.S. Senator for Vermont and former U.S. presidential primary candidate Bernie Sanders held a roundtable for roughly ten minutes with four selected journalists from the New York City area on Saturday, June 22, in the Mott Haven section of The Bronx, just before he joined Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14) and Democratic Congressman Jamaal Bowman (NY-16) at a rally in Mott Haven’s St. Mary’s Park [story to follow].

 

The event was held at the Yankee Conference Room of the Opera Hotel on East 149th Street. Sanders, well known as one of the most prominent progressive politicians in Congress, was first asked what his message was to young “progressives” who may also be anti-Zionists. Sanders, 82, replied, “I’m not sure what that question means.” Sounding frustrated, Sanders added, “I’m not really here to get into a great discussion about Israel. I’m here to see that Jamaal Bowman gets re-elected.”

 

The senator, who is Jewish, continued, “Israel has, like any other country, the right to defend itself. But what I also hear [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s right-wing, extremist, racist government has gone to war against the Palestinian people and according to the ICC, the International Criminal Court, has committed war crimes.”

 

Asked why some Democrats were [reportedly] not turning out for incumbent U.S. President Joe Biden, Sanders replied, “It’s no great secret there is a division in the Democratic Party.” Recalling his own 2016 and 2020 presidential primary campaigns, Sanders continued, “There were millions of people, working class people, young people, young people of color [who] said, ‘You know what? We want to come into the Democrat Party and we’re not happy with the status quo’.”

 

Moving onto Bowman’s congressional primary race against Democratic primary challenger George Latimer, the current Westchester County Executive, Sanders continued, “This is an establishment Democrat running against a progressive, alright. We all know their differences of opinion. What is unusual about this race is that the billionaire club, including billionaires who support right-wing Republicans, are spending an unlimited sum of money [to beat Bowman].”

 

Sanders added, “Left alone, equal funding, I think Jamaal would win this race hands down. I hope and think he’s going to win anyhow, but he’s been outspent, what is it? Ten to one? That’s a tough race to win.” Asked how Democrats can combat Super PAC money, Sanders replied, “What this race is about? It’s taking this whole movement of big money and politics to a whole new level.” The senator went on to express the need to overturn the Citizens United decision.

 

According to the Brennan Center for Justice, the conservative nonprofit group Citizens United challenged campaign finance rules at the U.S. Supreme Court after the Federal Election Commission (FEC) stopped it from promoting and airing a film criticizing then-U.S. presidential primary candidate Hillary Clinton too close to the presidential primaries in 2008. A 5–4 majority by the Supreme Court sided with Citizens United, ruling that corporations and other outside groups can spend unlimited money on elections.

 

A political action committee (PAC) is a political committee organized for the purpose of raising and spending money to elect and defeat candidates.

On the issue of campaign financing, Sanders said, “You need public funding for elections. We need fundamental reform of our political system, our campaign finance system; that’s what we’ve got to do as [a] progressive[s].” Asked about his planned speech at the St. Mary’s Park rally after the roundtable, Sanders said, “I will point out that this is one of the more important elections in modern history.”

 

The veteran progressive continued, “People think I’m crazy. ‘Really Bernie? Why is the 16^th District in The Bronx the most important?’ This is a major step forward [for] the billionaire class. They said, ‘Hey! We win this one, we got it all! Ain’t no one gonna oppose us anymore.’”

 

On the current affordable housing crisis, Sanders said, “Every place I go, Vermont, Burlington, Vermont……. impossible to find affordable housing. New York, L.A., you’ve got 30-40,000 people sleeping in the streets. You’ve got to start building public housing, which has been cut back really severely. It is a crisis we have to address.”

 

Asked if the average voter cares or knows about the campaign spending by the AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) Super PAC, in support of the Latimer campaign, Sanders replied, “I think they care deeply. How much they know? I don’t know.” The figure floated at the roundtable of PAC money going to the Latimer campaign was $20 million, while the New York City Democratic Socialists of America sent out an email later that night saying the PAC had recently spent $14.5 million or $17,000 an hour on the Latimer campaign.

 

Back at the roundtable, Sanders asked, “Do you really want billionaires buying elections? I think not. For the future of this country, you cannot allow billionaires to buy elections.”

 

According to Bowman’s campaign website, the congressman was born and raised in New York City and spent his early years in public housing and later in rent-controlled apartments. “Once he became a teacher, he saw firsthand how working families are locked out of opportunity by a system that’s rigged for the wealthy and privileged few,” an extract from his website reads. ‘He launched a public school in Baychester and kept building from there.”

 

The campaign website extract continues, “Together, we launched a grassroots coalition that took on powerful special interests and won. Once in Congress, Rep. Bowman secured historic investments in gun violence prevention, health care, and climate action. Our movement is delivering real change for families in The Bronx, White Plains, Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, Port Chester, New Rochelle, Co-op City, and beyond.”

 

The congressman lists his accomplishments as having brought $1 billion to NY-16, including $324 million for housing, $231 million for education, and $155 million for childcare.

 

 

Click here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here to read some of our previous coverage on Bowman. During her visit to The Bronx in November 2021, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris credited New York’s congressional team in large part for their work in convincing Congress of the need to pass emergency legislation to address the needs of all Americans amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Some voters have been critical of Bowman’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war. Northwest Bronx Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81), who is Jewish has endorsed Latimer, for example. When Bowman first won his seat in 2020 amid jubilant celebratory scenes, he ousted a longtime Democratic ally of Dinowitz, former Congressman for the 16th congressional district, Eliot Engel. Meanwhile, Politico recently reported on Bowman’s stance on Israel, including his 2021 visit to the country and to the West Bank which helped formulate it.

 

Meanwhile, Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of The Bronx and Queens, is facing her own primary challenger, Marty Dolan, whose recent campaign flier seems to include a photo of the Verrazzano bridge connecting Brooklyn with Staten Island, which is obviously not located in NY-14, the congresswoman’s district.

 

According to Wikipedia, Sanders is the longest-serving independent in U.S. congressional history but has a close relationship with the Democratic Party, having caucused with House and Senate Democrats for most of his congressional career and as above, sought the party’s presidential nomination in 2016 and 2020. He came second in both races.

 

The full roundtable with the senator can be watched here. (Video by David Greene)

 

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.

 

A reader queried why the rally was held in Mott Haven which is not in NY-16, Bowman’s district. Per the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress campaign team, the rally was hosted by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for Congress for the congresswoman, and it was held within the new district lines of the NY-14. “Rep. Jamaal Bowman, Rep. Nydia Velázquez, and Senator Bernie Sanders were invited as guests. Bus transportation to the NY-16 was arranged for volunteers who chose to canvass for Rep. Bowman’s campaign.”

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.

 

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this story incorrectly referenced Sanders as a Democrat. This has since been corrected.