A few weekends ago I found myself freezing, on a snowy, early Saturday morning at Brooklyn College. Why might you ask? Well to put it simply, tis the season! The Presidential race for 2020 has taken off, and by now you just might already have picked your candidate, or not. There are so many people in this field that making a decision might be quite difficult. As a teacher, I fully stand behind educating yourself on those candidates. What are their pros and cons, their platform, ideals, world views, etc., etc.? But we're New Yorkers and we got this. I mean, we navigated through all of the candidates during the special election for the Public Advocate race!!!

I'm sure more candidates will enter this race, as well as others will drop out. We've been hearing about Joe Biden entering the race for what feels like forever now. At this point, I've lost count of the Presidential candidates however, I'm also quite concerned about future Senate races, especially those in key states and if we want to gain control of the Senate. Quite bluntly, we need more Democrat Senate candidates than Presidential ones, but I digress….

So why am I in Brooklyn on a wintery Saturday morning? Bernie Sanders of course! He held his kick-off rally in his hometown at his old college and I was so ecstatic to not only be there to witness it, but I was also there as a volunteer. I have never stopped believing in Bernie and if you think about it, he never went away. Since Trump, Bernie Sanders has never stopped speaking out against him and Trump's horrendous policies, cabinet, oh you just name it.

Here's a question for you all. Why does a $15 minimum wage, Medicare-for-all and the Green New Deal just roll off democratic tongues? Quite simply actually. Four years ago, all too often, much of Bernie Sanders' platform was considered too radical, too crazy, too unrealistic, too pie in sky, or what have you. Now today, we have many democratic candidates, elected officials, even local ones, (shout out to AOC & the Freshmen,) that believed in Bernie's proposed plans back then and are running with them now or they have since adopted much of what he stood for since.

I'm not going to lie, his age is a bit of a concern of mine in regards to his health because running for President is no easy task. He prevailed last time and I truly believe he will do so again. For those of you in Biden's camp who repeatedly say that Bernie's too old, just keep this in mind, good ole Joe is only one year younger.

Less than a week after announcing his Presidential bid, Bernie Sanders is estimated to have collected $10 million from nearly 360,000 donors!!! 40% of those donors were from new supporters. Since then, his campaign has taken off. If you look at the current polls, Bernie is in the lead amongst all of the announced candidates. Just a few days ago, this #UnionProud #UnionStrong teacher read something unheard of. Bernie Sanders’ Presidential campaign has become the first major party Presidential campaign to unionize!!! Go Bernie!!!

I will wrap up with this, since the disastrous 2016 election, there has been false information left and right about the whole Bernie/Hilary debacle.

Here's the truth…

When Bernie conceded, he immediately endorsed Hillary Clinton and he then instructed his delegates (of which I was one of them,) and his supporters to now back, actively organize for, and to vote for Hillary Clinton. Bernie did five big rallies for her and he put out tons of emails and even robocalls strongly urging people to vote for Hillary. He also repeatedly told us all to be respectful of the Hillary Clinton campaign. Bernie Sanders wanted Hillary Clinton to win and for Donald Trump to lose. I'm so tired of the false narrative that Trump was Bernie's fault. A big emphatic NO!

I will continue to support and organize for Bernie Sanders and you all will be with me on my journey. Also, always feel free to ask me why I'm #Bernie2020. Wisconsin, here I come!!!

Below I have attached a great article that includes Bernie Sanders’ speech from that great snowy, freezing, Saturday morning in Brooklyn.

"I know where I came from!" he howled, a hint of exuberance in his voice. "And that is something I will never forget."

http.cnn.com/2019/03/02/politics/bernie-sanders-personal-brooklyn-speech-2020/index.html