BRONX, NEW YORK Councilman Ritchie Torres Endorses BERNIE For "Progressive Agenda" April 18

Millennial Councilman Ritchie Torres was just a guest on MSNBC, TLW Lawrence O'Donnell's show to explain his endorsement.
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With just a day to go before New York's presidential primary, Councilman Ritchie Torres of the Bronx is throwing his support behind Bernie Sanders, citing the Vermont senator's progressive agenda.

>“Bernie represents a special phenomenon in progressive politics. He singularly has made inequality and poverty the focal point of the presidential election — that is his contribution to progressive politics and he’s energizing young people to an extent never seen before,” Torres said, in an interview with POLITICO New York.

Torres, who grew up in public housing in the Bronx, sent a letter to all the presidential candidates last week asking them to tour New York City Public Housing Authority buildings to see a glimpse of what decades of federal divestment has done to the city’s public housing stock.

Since then, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited the Corsi Houses in East Harlem alongside City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito and the Sanders campaign went on a Torres-led tour of the Howard Houses in Brownsville along with Councilman Jumaane Williams and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

I was just moved — it meant the world to the residents there to have a presidential candidate tour their homes, to have a presidential candidate come to Brownsville and say ‘I see you and I hear you but above all else I’m willing to invest in you and your home,’” Torres said.

Torres, a self-described millennial and the youngest member of the City Council, had been torn on his decision for months. In an interview just last week, he described his conundrum, saying, “My heart is with Bernie but my head is with Hillary.”

In the end, it was Sanders’ agenda and commitment to closing the federal funding gap in public housing that won out.

More: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2016/04/8596894/after-public-anguish-bronx-councilman-endorses-sanders-eve-primary