De Blasio and Cuomo Both Court Bernie Sanders
By Courtney Gross
Friday, September 16, 2016 at 01:14 AM EDT
Mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Andrew Cuomo were both courting Bernie Sanders on Thursday, trying to promote their progressive credentials. NY1's Courtney Gross filed the following report.
The Working Families Party had a good week. The vast majority of its candidates won during Tuesday's legislative primaries. So officials brought in one of their favorite candidates to celebrate.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders headlined the party's annual gala on Thursday night.
"You are involving tens of thousands of working people to stand up for their rights and getting them to understand that no one will do it for you, you are going to have to stand up and lead the struggle yourself," Sanders said.
The night proved to show the party's influence. Mayor Bill de Blasio received an award from the party and introduced the senator, keeping the event on his schedule even though NYPD officers had just been injured by a man wielding a meat cleaver in Midtown.
"This country is on the way to a much more progressive future, and a whole generation of activists have risen up," de Blasio said.
De Blasio, after all, has a history with Sanders, albeit recent, because he endorsed Clinton during the primary battle. The mayor and senator have met behind closed doors several times in the last year. Last month, they had dinner at a Japanese restaurant in Vermont.
"He was able to change this country," de Blasio said. "This nation will never be the same again in the best sense of the word."
"I want to thank Mayor de Blasio for the introduction and also thank him for the job he's doing being mayor," Sanders said. "It ain't an easy job, being mayor."
Just hours before, and perhaps in a move of political oneupmanship, Governor Andrew Cuomo's office tweeted photos of the governor with Sanders.
They met for a half hour on Tuesday at the governor’s Manhattan office to discuss the progressive agenda.
While Cuomo may have met with Sanders, he did not see the need to come to the Working Families Party gala.
http://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2016/09/16/de-blasio-and-cuomo-both-court-bernie-sanders.html
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