BREAKING: Public Advocate Jumaane Williams Endorses Jimmy Van Bramer for Queens Borough President

Growing progressive coalition includes Zephyr Teachout + Cynthia Nixon

NEW YORK (01/03/2020) (readMedia)-- Today, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams Endorsed Jimmy Van Bramer for Queens Borough President. In the last week Van Bramer has also been endorsed by Zephyr Teachout, Cynthia Nixon and trans activist Cecilia Gentili.

Van Bramer is the only candidate for Queens Borough President to reject real estate money, oppose the city jails plan, and lead the fight against the city and state's plan to give away $3 billion in taxpayer subsidies to Amazon.

"Jimmy Van Bramer is a progressive champion who will fight for a Queens for all. Jimmy has shown courage time and again to do what's right, whether it's speaking out against Stop, Question and Frisk, voting down the city plan to build more jails, fighting for immigrants' rights, or standing up against Donald Trump's hateful policies and rhetoric against our most vulnerable communities. I'm proud to endorse his grassroots bid to be our next Queens Borough President." said Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.

Williams and Van Bramer have collaborated together for over a decade in the Progressive Caucus of the New York City Council, working on issues like the right to counsel for immigrants, ending Stop, Question and Frisk and affordable housing.

"I've been so proud to fight along side Jumaane Williams for well over a decade. He's a man of great principle who always speaks truth to power, and his work to stamp out gun violence, call out racial injustice, and raise our collective consciousness is absolutely inspiring. Together we will build a Queens for all," said Jimmy Van Bramer.

Van Bramer is a life-long progressive activist who's been fighting machine politics for over three decades. He is the son of union workers and a lifelong Queens resident. Before being elected to the City Council, he organized for LGBTQ rights, public financing of elections, and for the Queens Public Library.

Background on Van Bramer:

Jimmy Van Bramer, born and raised in Astoria, Queens, is the Deputy Leader of the New York City Council. He was first elected to the New York City Council on November 3, 2009, and re-elected in both 2013 and 2017. Van Bramer is a founding member of the progressive caucus of the New York City Council.

He works tirelessly to fight for working people, equality for all, and the importance of improving quality of life in our community- values instilled by his parents. His father, William Van Bramer, was a lifelong member of Printers' and Pressman's Union Local 2, and his mother Elizabeth Van Bramer helped support the family- even through bouts of homelessness and food insecurity- by working as a meat wrapper and cashier at local supermarkets, and was a member of Local 1893 of the International Brotherhood of Painters.

His first foray into organizing was when he was a St. John's University student in 1993, leading a queer group of students who fought to be officially recognized by the largest catholic university in the country. Later, he organized for Ed Sedarbaum's 1998 State Senate race, gravitating towards the nascent movement to elect queer people in Queens and starting his personal decades long fight with the Queens County Democratic Party machine.

In 1998, he was an organizer with Citizen Action of New York to create what-is-now today's current New York City campaign finance system with matching funds. At the same time, he lead civil disobedience actions with Irish LGBTQ folks trying to march in the city's St. Patrick's Day parades, which previously banned openly queer groups from marching.

In 2001, he stepped forward as the insurgent candidate against the Queens machine for City Council, coming in second. In the ensuing years, he worked as an organizer for the Queens Public Library and joined the board of the Queens Council on the Arts. In 2009, Van Bramer won his City Council election against Queens County machine pick Deirdre Feerick. He similarly bucked the machine to back Melissa Mark-Viverito for Speaker.

Recently he was a leader in the opposition to $3 billion of tax subsidies for Amazon HQ2 and was the first Queens elected official to endorse Tiffany Cabán for Queens District Attorney.

He currently lives in Sunnyside Gardens with his husband Dan Hendrick. Jimmy married Dan on July 28th, 2012, becoming the first openly-gay elected official to get married in the borough of Queens.