Working Families Party, Zephyr Teachout endorse Bernie Sanders

The state's Working Families Party and former gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout on Tuesday endorsed Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for president.

The labor-backed party and Teachout, who ran in a Democratic primary last year against Gov. Andrew Cuomo, said Teachout -- not Chappaqua, Westchester County, resident Hillary Clinton -- is the best pick.

Teachout, a Vermont native, said she's been impressed with Sanders for decades, ever since she saw him speak in Montpelier, Vt., in 1993.

"Our democracy is in crisis. Bernie Sanders is a fearless, experienced leader capable of seeing the truth and standing up to big private power, even when it is almost impossibly hard," Teachout, a Fordham Law School professor who lost to Cuomo but did surprisingly well, said in a statement.

For the Working Families Party, which has an influential role in New York politics as a third party, said it was its first-ever national endorsement.

At a recent Working Families Party membership vote, the party said that Sanders won support of 87 percent of delegates compared to 12 percent for Clinton, the former two-term New York senator, former first lady and secretary of state.

"We want to live in a nation that allows all people to live a decent life, no matter what is in their parents' bank account or who is in their family tree," the party said in a statement.

"But the super-rich have used their economic muscle to buy political muscle, and unless you're one of them, what you think government should do basically doesn't count."

(AP Photo)