National Bernie Sanders organization endorses Jeff Beals in NY-19 Primary
Movement with more than 1.4 million followers boosts teacher and former US diplomat as the progressive choice
WOODSTOCK, NY – The national Bernie Sanders grassroots collective, The People for Bernie Sanders, today endorsed local teacher and former U.S. diplomat Jeff Beals for Congress in New York 19, boosting his campaign as the primary election day approaches on June 26.
“We’re excited to announce our endorsement of Jeff Beals,” said Katherine Brezler, co-founder of the group and a former national delegate for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 convention. “As a Woodstock high school history teacher he knows the civic importance of this fight. He believes in building bridges not walls. His bold platform to empower the 99% is what this district needs in Washington.”
Beals, a local teacher and former U.S. diplomat who lives in Woodstock with his family, has rallied a movement of activists, labor and environmental leaders across the district behind a progressive platform.
“We are finally building the movement to get working people in charge of their lives again,” said Beals. “Our district suffers from decades of bipartisan failure to address income inequality and the corporatization of our political system. Organizations like The People for Bernie Sanders are the backbone of a new political revolution to pass Medicare for All, raise Social Security Benefits and enact a Green New Deal in America through a federal jobs guarantee. Our district, the home of FDR, is the place to make this change happen.”
The People for Bernie Sanders, which boasts 1.4 million followers on social media, adds their backing for Beals to that of the Justice Democrats, a national group of former Bernie Sanders staffers who endorsed Beals as the true progressive in the primary in NY-19 in December.
The People for Bernie Sanders was founded in 2016 by veterans of the Occupy Wall Street movement to support Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. The grassroots collective, which operates independently of Senator Sanders, has more than 1.4 million followers on Facebook, and it is credited with popularizing the hashtag #feelthebern.
For more information about Jeff Beals’ campaign, visit http://www.bealsforcongress.co
About Jeff Beals
Jeff Beals is a local high school history teacher and former U.S. diplomat whose campaign has been endorsed the national organization of former Bernie Sanders staffers, the Justice Democrats. He lives and works in Woodstock with his wife, Suhayr, a kindergarten teacher, and their two sons. Jeff was one of the longest-serving diplomats of the Iraq war, decorated by the U.S. Army and State Department for his leadership in bringing all sides together in cease-fire talks and the drafting of Iraq’s constitution. He is a local democratic committee member and an active political organizer in NY-19, where he voted against John Faso.
For more information about Beals’ campaign, visit http://www.bealsforcongress.co
