Both de Blasio and Sanders emphasized the importance of turnout in their remarks, pressing the need for voters show up in large numbers and help cement de Blasio’s second-term mandate. | Getty Sanders encourages voter turnout in endorsing de Blasio

Progressive darling and Brooklyn native, Sen. Bernie Sanders, headlined a scarcely attended but boisterous reelection campaign rally for Mayor Bill de Blasio in Manhattan on Monday evening, encouraging supporters to deliver a large election turnout and casting de Blasio as a key fighter in Democrats' battle against President Donald Trump.

“What this election here in New York is about is that everything that de Blasio is trying to do is exactly the opposite of what Trump is trying to do and you should all be very proud of that,” Sanders said to a crowd of supporters at the Terminal 5 music venue on Manhattan's West Side on Monday, chiding Trump as a divisive president who works against the country’s most vulnerable populations.


“This mayor is leading the city in a way to bring us together to create a better life for all of our people,” Sanders said to applause.

Both de Blasio and Sanders emphasized the importance of turnout in their remarks, pressing the need for voters show up in large numbers and help cement de Blasio’s second-term mandate. Although the mayor is expected to easily win, he needs to post a large margin of victory both to make a ripple on the national stage and help push his agenda through a second and final term. De Blasio, who faced perfunctory opposition in the September primary, won 74 percent of the vote, despite dismal voter turnout.

“If we are going to make change in this city, if we are going to continue this progress, if we are going to send a message to Washington right now, then we need people to vote on Tuesday, Nov. 7,” de Blasio said. “We need a huge turnout.”

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed de Blasio currently commands a comfortable 61 percent lead ahead of his challengers, Republican Assembly member Nicole Malliotakis and independent candidate Bo Dietl. But the wide margin could dampen voter enthusiasm if too many see the election as a fait accompli.

The rally capped a busy day of campaigning for the mayor whom Sanders had appeared with earlier Monday to stump for the mayor's proposed millionaires tax. Sen. Chuck Schumer also announced his support for the mayor Monday morning, citing de Blasio’s ability to successfully keep the crime rate low and the employment rate high.

Amid the support, de Blasio continued to dodge questions about an alleged pay-to-play culture at City Hall as the ongoing trial of union leader Norman Seabrook unearths a steady stream of allegations from Jona Rechnitz, an admitted felon and the federal government’s star witness in several cases. Rechnitz has testified he was in weekly communication with the mayor and his top fundraiser, and that he was promised favors in exchange for political donations.

Although separate state and federal investigations into de Blasio’s fundraising practices closed without anyone in his circle being charged, the testimony has dominated headlines in the last two weeks, frustrating the mayor’s aides as they head into the waning days of an otherwise easy campaign.

De Blasio has accused Rechnitz of lying on the stand in a bid to help his own criminal prosecution. The mayor, at times visibly frustrated, continued to slam Rechnitz on Monday and did not answer specific questions about whether he ever asked Rechnitz to donate to an effort to flip control of the state Senate to Democrats in 2014, or about what level of access he had to the mayor.

“He’s a liar and a felon, that’s all you need to know,” de Blasio said earlier on Monday. "He’s telling lies about me, that’s all there is to say.”

De Blasio, who has struggled to define his role as a progressive leader on the national stage, irked Hillary Clinton’s camp during the presidential race last year when he delayed endorsing her presidential bid. De Blasio's progressive agenda, which propelled him to an upset win in 2013, was more in line with that of Sanders' 2016 campaign.

The mayor’s embrace of Sanders’ agenda was on full display Monday, crediting Sanders for bringing the issue of income inequality to the forefront of American politics and describing him as the leader of the progressive movement he believes will unseat Trump in the coming years.

“Years from now there is going to be a day when health care is actually a right for all Americans, there is going to be a day when college everywhere is actually debt free, there is going to be a day when the 1 percent finally share their fair share in taxes,” de Blasio said. “That day is going to come and when it comes you are all going to look back and say, who started this, who started the ball rolling, who started this movement, who planted the seed who gave us the hope, who showed us the way — ladies and gentlemen, Bernie Sanders.”

Sanders was equally effusive over de Blasio, delivering his usual stump speech while ticking off the mayor’s successful universal pre-K and municipal ID programs, and his plan to build more units of affordable housing.

“We are going to take on the billionaire class and tell them they’re not going to control the future of this country but we will. We need people all over this country to stand up for what America is and can be,” Sanders said. “On Election Day, let’s show the country that. By a large vote, let’s reelect Bill de Blasio and let’s show the world what this city can do.”