"Bernie's Back" Comeback Rally with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez

Speaking to a crowd of more than 26,000 people (with an additional 5,000 in an overflow area) at Queensbridge Park on Long Island City, NY, 2020 presidential candidate and current U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, I-VT stated clearly, “I am back” a mere two and a half weeks following a heart attack while on the 2020 campaign trail. He received a coveted endorsement from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, and in garnering her support, held a rally on October 19, 2019 that surpassed expected turnout of 20,000 people. They were joined on stage by New York politicians, the film director Michael Moore, and Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan.

Ocasio-Cortez’s district is less than a mile from Long Island City. Both Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders noted the significance of the rally location in Queensbridge Park: next to the NYCHA-run Queensbridge Houses. A fossil-fuel burning power plant, the Ravenswood Generation Station, loomed in the background behind the rally stage. “Let us be clear: it is not secret that that plant is located right next to the city’s largest public housing development,” Sanders said. “Together we will pass a Green New Deal that will end the environmental racism we see right here in Queens.”

The rally speech is notable for becoming the center of a viral rallying cry to “fight for someone you don’t know.” In a series of questions touching on humanity, empathy, student debt, health care, and immigration, Bernie asks:

“Are you willing to fight for that person who you don’t even know as much as you’re willing to fight for yourself? Are you willing to fight for young people drowning in student debt even if you are not? Are you willing to fight to ensure that every American has health care as a human right even if you have good health care? Are you willing to fight for frightened immigrant neighbors even if you are native born?”

The rally carried Sanders’s and AOC’s anti-establishment, populist message and helped to galvanize the progressive activist base of the left during his 2020 presidential run.

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Ember, Sydney. “Proclaiming ‘I Am Back,’ Bernie Sanders Accepts Ocasio-Cortez Endorsement.” The New York Times, October 19, 2019, sec. U.S. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/19/us/politics/bernie-sanders-aoc-queensbridge-park.html. 

Germanos, Andrea. “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Backs Bernie Sanders at Packed NYC Rally.” Truthout. Accessed May 3, 2021. https://truthout.org/articles/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-backs-bernie-sanders-at-packed-nyc-rally/. 

Harper, Averi. “Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Comes out in Support of Bernie Sanders at His First Rally Post-Heart Attack.” ABC News. Accessed May 3, 2021. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/sen-bernie-sanders-expected-endorsed-rep-alexandria-ocasio/story?id=66389489. 

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Otterbein, Holly. “‘I Am Back’: Sanders Tops Warren with Massive New York City Rally.” POLITICO. Accessed May 3, 2021. https://www.politico.com/news/2019/10/19/bernie-sanders-ocasio-cortez-endorsement-rally-051491. 

Scher, Bill. “AOC’s Sanders Endorsement Won’t Change 2020. But It Might Change the Democratic Party.” POLITICO Magazine. Accessed May 3, 2021. https://politi.co/35QLNwn. 

Whitford, Emma. “Photos: 26,000 Spend Saturday With Bernie Sanders And AOC In Queens.” Gothamist, October 20, 2019. https://gothamist.com/news/photos-26000-spend-saturday-bernie-sanders-and-aoc-queens.