Jimmy Van Bramer And Rana Abdelhamid Co-Endorse Each Other

ASTORIA-LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Queens Borough President candidate Jimmy Van Bramer and NY congressional candidate Rana Abdelhamid co-endorsed each other on Thursday, as they both run progressive campaigns to oust incumbents.

Van Bramer, a longtime, term-limited Long Island City Council Member, is seeking Queens Borough President Donovan Richards’ seat this year, and Abdelhamid, a democratic socialist who announced her 2022 bid for Congress mid-April, is running against the 12th District’s longtime congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.

Van Bramer is the first sitting elected official in the 12th District — which encompasses the Upper East Side, East Village, and parts of western Queens and north Brooklyn — to get behind Abdelhamid’s campaign, following Brooklyn City Council Member, and NYC comptroller candidate, Brad Lander’s endorsement last month. Van Bramer and Lander also co-endorsed each other earlier this week, reported the Sunnyside Post.

Abdelhamid, an activist, is also being backed by Justice Democrats, the progressive group that supported other local progressive campaigns, notably including Jamal Bowman and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

This cross endorsement comes just days after Van Bramer and Abdelhamid teamed up on a small business walk in Long Island City to talk about Amazon, pandemic relief, commercial rent control, gentrification, and Open Streets — policies that are at the cornerstone of both of their campaigns.

“Councilman Van Bramer was a leader in the fight against Amazon and its anti-union practices coming to New York City,” said Abdelhamid in her endorsement statement, describing Van Bramer as the “progressive champion” working families need.

She added that both of their campaigns would enable “residents, not real estate developers or giant corporations, [to] shape our communities in Queens and beyond.”

Van Bramer echoed a similar sentiment, describing Abdelhamid as “a lifelong Queens activist [who] would be a champion for progressive values in Washington.”

“The district has become more diverse while increasingly inequitable, and Rana has the vision to make sure Western Queens, Manhattan's East Side, and North Brooklyn is a place for working families, not just Wall Street and the well-connected,” wrote Van Bramer in his endorsement statement — likely taking aim at Maloney, who Abdelhamid similarly criticized in her initial campaign video for “taking millions of dollars from the developers and Wall Street banks profiting off our suffering."

The NYC borough president elections will be held in November 2021, whereas Abdelhamid’s congressional election won’t be until 2022 — by which point it’s expected that Suraj Patel, a 37-year-old attorney who ran against Maloney in 2018 and 2020 and told Patch he plans to run again in 2022, will have also entered the race.