Bernie Holds Comeback Rally With AOC in Queens

By Lauren Aratani, Guardian UK

19 October 19

ALSO SEE: Bernie Sanders’ Queens Rally Live Stream

ernie Sanders will stage a rally on Saturday afternoon in New York City, his first since he paused his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination due to health problems.

Sanders will be joined by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the New York congresswoman who gave him a surprise endorsement this week. Ocasio-Cortez’s district is less than a mile from Long Island City, the Queens neighborhood where Sanders will stage his rally.

The Bernie’s Back Rally will kick off the senator’s comeback. The Vermont senator abruptly paused his campaign at the beginning of October, after undergoing treatment for an artery blockage. Sanders had a heart attack, his campaign said as he was released from hospital.

At 78, Sanders is the oldest major presidential candidate. If elected, he will be the oldest president inaugurated.

As he was recovering from his heart attack, Sanders said the nature of his campaign was going to change, alluding to the relentless schedule he had previously followed. He told reporters outside his home in Burlington, Vermont he had felt “more fatigued than I usually have been” over the last few months and should have “listened to those symptoms”.

Just a day later, the old Bernie was back. He said he “misspoke” and would be getting “back into the groove of a very rigorous campaign. I love doing rallies and I love doing town meetings”. The media, he said, “drives me a little bit nuts to make a big deal out of it”.

Sanders was on the debate stage on Tuesday night as his old self, wagging his finger and taking bites from other candidates.

When CNN’s Erin Burnett tried to change the subject from drug companies to “the issues of candidates and their health”, Sanders interjected: “I’m healthy. I’m feeling great!” The crowd burst into applause.

Though Sanders trails the former vice-president Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren in most polls, he is beating them in fundraising. From July to September, Sanders raised $25.3m, edging out Warren’s $24.6m and Biden’s $15.2m.

Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement is expected to boost or at least sustain Sanders’ support.

In many ways, it shows Ocasio-Cortez going back to her roots. Before she became a political celebrity in her own right, she was an organizer for Sanders. Some founders of Justice Democrats, the political action committee that helped organize her campaign, are former Sanders staffers.

During Tuesday’s debate, when asked how he would “reassure Democratic voters that you’re up to the stress of the presidency”, Sanders plugged Saturday’s rally.

It would just be a continuation of his campaign, he said.

“We are going to be mounting a vigorous campaign all over this country. That is how I think I can reassure the American people.”