Gowanus Neighborhood ‘Berning’ As Sanders’ Brooklyn Office Opens

With less than 24 hours notice, the Brooklyn presidential campaign office of Senator Bernie Sanders opened in the Gowanus neighborhood on Saturday. The event — which took place in front of the office at 131 8th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues) — was a mix of fiery speeches, enthusiastic block party, volunteer orientation, and energetic parents chasing after their even more energetic toddlers.

While the Gowanus event was taking place, Sanders was out West campaigning to enthusiastic crowds as well as fine-feathered friends.

And while Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky” was pumped through the speakers, Sanders supporters do not believe that it is luck that will catapult the Brooklyn native to become the Democratic Presidential candidate.

“He has been saying the same thing for 40 years,” said Jonathan Vasquez, when asked why he is a supporter of Sanders.

“If you get paid off by corporations, you’re beholden to them,” added Mohammed Siddique.

“Exactly,” said Jesse Brickle. “Bernie understands he is an employee of the people.”

Neighbor Cassandra Kinyon, attending with her 5-year-old Kristen Dunning, was waiting for the event to start. “The reason I’m supporting him is for the future of my daughter,” said Kinyon.

Kinyon told us that her daughter Kristen watches most of the debates with her. “She’s so excited. She wants to vote for him, too.”

When we asked five-year-old Kristen what she liked about Sanders, she became a little bit shy. “She has a lot to say about him, trust me,” said her mother.

When Kristen relaxed a bit more, her eyes lit up. “He’s nice. He has lots of good ideas.”

“And what else?” said Kinyon, encouraging her daughter.

“And FREE COLLEGE!,” said Kristen.

Executive Director of the Arab American Association of New York kindled the crowd of hundreds, saying “He’s a man who sees all of us, progressives, whites, blacks, Jews, Muslims, Latinos, as equals […] as a Muslim American, I am proud to put my vote behind the only Jewish candidate for President. That’s how we do it in Brooklyn.”

Ohio State Senator Nina Turner was the firebrand of the diverse group of speakers. Turner’s preacher quality synchronized with many of her words, as she said, “not only was Jesus a revolutionary, but as my husband reminds me, he was a Socialist Jew.” The crowd roared as she later said, “We need more people in the elected ministry who give a shit!”

After the volunteers attending were given a crash course in canvasing, Kyp Malone of the Brooklyn band TV On The Radio played “Smiling Black Faces,” a song from his solo project Rain Machine.

Video by Donny Levit / Park Slope Stoop

A recently released dataset by Renthop looks at contributions to presidential candidates — by zip code — across the New York City metro area. Data shows that residents in the 11215 zip code lean heavily towards Hillary Clinton.

But those numbers aren’t deterring his supporters in the neighborhood. As the event wrapped up, volunteers headed out to knock on doors and gather votes.

Later that day, Sanders would win by wide margins in Alaska, Hawaii, and Washington state contests.

Sanders is hoping to build on the recent momentum of his campaign. Yamiche Alcindor wrote about a call he recently received from Sanders. “‘I don’t want to disturb the media narrative too much,’ he said wryly, with his unmistakable Brooklyn inflection. ‘But don’t write us off.’”