Sanders gets an endorsement that could be important
Bernie Sanders got a coveted endorsement from a young politician that could have a marginal effect on the upcoming New York primary. Bronx Councilman Richard Torres endorsed Sanders today. Politico reported the following.
With just a day to go before New York’s presidential primary, Councilman Ritchie Torres of the Bronx is throwing his support behind Bernie Sanders, citing the Vermont senator’s progressive agenda. “Bernie represents a special phenomenon in progressive politics. He singularly has made inequality and poverty the focal point of the presidential election — that is his contribution to progressive politics and he’s energizing young people to an extent never seen before,” Torres said, in an interview with POLITICO New York. Torres, who grew up in public housing in the Bronx, sent a letter to all the presidential candidates last week asking them to tour New York City Public Housing Authority buildings to see a glimpse of what decades of federal divestment has done to the city’s public housing stock. Since then, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Corsi Houses in East Harlem alongside City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and the Sanders campaign went on a Torres-led tour of the Howard Houses in Brownsville along with Councilman Jumaane Williams and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.
Lawrence O’Donnell asked Torres if it was difficult to endorse Bernie Sanders given the Democratic Party overwhelming support for Hillary Clinton. He said it was a matter of values. He said the story of public housing is about a social contract that thus far the federal government has been derelict about. It is a social contract that says every American should have access to a decent life and a decent, affordable, and safe place to live. He said Sanders was the candidate that best speak to those values.
