Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign claims to have pulled a record-breaking crowd to his New-York City rally. He didn’t just pull a mammoth crowd to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park Sunday in the run-in for the New-York Democratic Primary; he also had Hollywood star Danny DeVito introduce him on stage.
These claims were substantiated by the campaign and production company that helped to plan the event.
Sanders attracted more than 28,300 people, a record that crept higher than the campaign’s previous record of 28,000 from Portland, Oregon, in August.
After the glowing introductions by Danny DeVito and the cheers from the crowd, Bernie Sanders shouted into the mic:
“In case you haven’t noticed, there are a lot of people here this afternoon!”
He sure was excited!
While mega-rallies have been a staple of Sanders’ campaign, this is the first time New-York City is witnessing this kind of event that show off the ability of a political candidate to draw crowds.
The campaign claims Sanders drew about 18,000 people to the South Bronx. Last week, more than 27,000 people showed up to hear him at Washington Square Park, and on Monday – before the all-important primary – another large crowd is expected at Long Island City.
Sunday’s huge turnout capped a series of unpublicized events across Manhattan and Brooklyn. These include a stroll through Brooklyn Bridge Park and a tour of public housing projects in Brownsville, where Sanders was surprised by the lack of proper renovations and construction at New York City Housing Authority buildings.
He addressed this issue at the rally:
“A few hours ago, I was in Brownsville here in Brooklyn, … and what I learned is we have a $17 billion backlog in construction needs,”We have community centers that are closing down.”
This visit prompted a Brooklyn woman to shout this – possibly from her apartment window – as claimed by Danny Freeman:
“We got to vote for him now!” shouts one Brownsville woman because @BernieSanders “came to the hood.” pic.twitter.com/XwSyT73NYt
— Danny Freeman (@DannyEFreeman) April 17, 2016
As the supporter drifted out of the rally, photographer, and New-York native Bill Bernstein was nearly speechless.
When asked his reaction to the huge crowd, he stated:
“I thought it was an amazing moment in history…
If he doesn’t get the nomination, this time, there are millions of millions of people who heard what he had to say. This is not going to die. This started something.”
While there was a huge crowd present at the rally, this doesn’t always translate to votes.
However, as Bill Bernstein claims, this may be the beginning of something positively massive.
Getty/Mireya Aceirto
