She wants North Brooklyn to feel the Bern!
A 27-year-old, self-proclaimed democratic socialist in the mold of Bernie Sanders who has never before held elected office stopped by Brooklyn Paper Radio to tell our co-hosts all about her campaign to unseat a Democratic state senator and one-time ally of disgraced party boss Vito Lopez who has served in Albany’s upper house since 2003.
State Senate hopeful Julia Salazar has been pounding the pavement in her would-be 18th District — which includes parts of Bushwick, Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Cypress Hills, East New York, Bedford-Stuyvesant, and Brownsville — collecting signatures to appear on the Democratic primary ballot in September in an effort to oust Martin Malavé Dilan, who will be running for his ninth term this fall.
And following her fellow democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s still-buzzed-about victory over long-serving Queens Congressman Joe Crowley — the leader of that borough’s Democratic Party — in last month’s federal primaries, Salazar scooped up the endorsements of Democrats across the spectrum, including so-called progressive gubernatorial hopeful Cynthia Nixon; long-time Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, whose district encompasses Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Bushwick, Greenpoint, and Brooklyn Heights, as well as swathes of Manhattan and Queens; and the second-term Bushwick Councilman Antonio Reynoso.
Take a listen now to hear co-hosts Vince DiMiceli and Anthony Rotunno ask Salazar — whose resume features activism and community organizing around issues including worker protections, police accountability, and criminal-justice reform — why she thinks Brooklyn is ready for her brand of governing.
Brooklyn Paper Radio is recorded and podcast live on Tuesday afternoons — for your convenience — from our studio in America’s Downtown and can be found, as always, right here on Brook