New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, a former Hillary Clinton campaign manager, will not be attending Clinton’s official campaign launch this Saturday, which will be held in Roosevelt Island, New York.
Although de Blasio helped Clinton win her Senate election in 2000, he told reporters Wednesday that he will not attend because he is waiting for her to address her “larger vision” upon the issue of income inequality, the website JPUpdates reported.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 83% of Americans said an overarching issue in America is wealth gap, which concerns the topic of income inequality. Fifty one percent of Americans have called it a “major problem.”
Although de Blasio, a fellow Democrat, has not confirmed who he will be supporting within these presidential elections, he said during a press conference that he’s always liked the approach of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The NYC Mayor added, “I think Bernie Sanders is a great senator, he is a great voice for a fair society and a fair economy.”
When asked about income inequality during an interview with Mother Jones, Sanders said the number one issue the American people face is the “grotesque level of income and wealth inequality.”
“You have millions of young people graduating college deeply in debt. They can’t get their lives started, can’t get married. So I think the issue of income and wealth inequality is in fact a moral issue,” Sanders said. He added, “Second of all, it becomes a political issue…That is not what American democracy is about.”
De Blasio said he has been a fan of Sanders for quite some time, after Sanders addressed the issues of income inequality. He said, “I give him a lot of respect for that, and I’ll certainly look forward to talking to him more.”