With the New York primary contest heating up, Bernie Sanders’ campaign on Saturday released a new television ad produced by director Spike Lee that features younger and older generations of New Yorkers who support Sanders.
The Academy Award-nominated director and Sanders surrogate cut a 30-second spot for the Vermont senator, which features various surrogates for the Sanders campaign speaking directly to the camera and potential voters.
Singer and civil rights activist Harry Belafonte begins the ad, saying, “People of color have a deeply vested interest in what Bernie Sanders brings to us in this election.”
Activists Erica Garner and Shaun King also offer praise for the presidential candidate.
Muslim-American activist Linda Sarsour concludes the short spot: “Bernie Sanders sees all of me. He sees all of you. He sees us as a whole people, as a whole country,” Sarsour declares. “That’s why I’m voting for Bernie Sanders.”
Lee endorsed Sanders in February, telling South Carolina voters to “Wake Up!”
“This is your dude, Spike Lee. And you know that I know that you know that the system is rigged! For too long, we’ve given our votes to corporate puppets. Sold the okie doke. Ninety-nine percent of Americans were hurt by the Great Recession of 2008, and many are still recovering,” Lee said in the ad released Tuesday. “That’s why I am officially endorsing my brother, Bernie Sanders.”
On Saturday, Sanders appeared at four neighborhood rallies in various boroughs of New York as part of his campaign push ahead of the April 19 primary.