NEW YORK — Hillary Clinton is working hard in New York to make sure she doesn't get embarrassed in her own backyard. That effort kicked off Wednesday with a packed rally in Harlem, where Bernie Sanders has been hoping to make inroads ahead of the April 19 primary.

So far, Sanders hasn’t had much success. While the Brooklyn-born Vermont senator has tapped into progressive enthusiasm in his home borough, he’s struggling to infiltrate the historic black neighborhood in Upper Manhattan that’s the heart of Clinton Country. Sanders is even having difficulty nailing down a venue for a rally.


“I heard from a reverend in Harlem that Bernie was trying to rent his church — the reverend called me and told me that he’s not going to rent it [to the Sanders campaign],” said Rep. Charles Rangel, a longtime representative of Harlem and Clinton supporter who helped draft the former first lady to run for Senate in 2000. “We all have a commitment to Hillary Clinton.”

Heading into retirement, Rangel is making Clinton’s New York push his last Harlem hurrah. It’s not a hard sell. “There’s not much for us to talk about with Bernie Sanders,” Rangel, who danced across the Apollo Theater stage dressed in a leather jacket ahead of Clinton’s rally there Wednesday, told POLITICO. “I don’t recall anybody ever having a conversation with Bernie Sanders about anything. I know several people have been lectured to by Bernie Sanders.”

The Rev. Charles Curtis of Mount Olive Baptist Church on Lenox Avenue confirmed that a minister working with the Sanders campaign reached out to rent the church for a campaign event and that he turned down the offer. "The request came from a young minister working with Mr. Sanders and they were trying to find a place to hold a rally,” said Curtis, who is leaning toward supporting Clinton. “I try to be careful what the church’s name is involved in. There are other venues, and Mrs. Clinton chose the Apollo [Theater]. I’m not sure why they were looking for a church.”

Curtis said he turned Sanders down primarily because of a packed schedule of community events — but he was hesitant to say he would be willing to host the senator even if the church was free. “Right now, based on what I have seen, and the people I have spoken to, I doubt seriously if he’s going to do well in Harlem,” Curtis said. “Clinton has the support of most of the African-American clergy.”

Sanders isn’t ready to concede Harlem, despite the obstacles. He visited last month for a breakfast at Sylvia’s Restaurant with Rev. Al Sharpton, who has yet to endorse any candidate in the race, and has the endorsement of state Sen. Bill Perkins, who represents the neighborhood. His campaign — fueled by an unstoppable stream of small donations that is enabling it to compete hard in New York — said it is looking to open an office in Harlem over the next few weeks. But so far, there’s little evidence the neighborhood is feeling the Bern.

Sanders on Thursday is holding a rally at Saint Mary’s Park in the South Bronx.

Harlem, perhaps more than any other neighborhood in the five boroughs, has a special relationship with the Clintons. It was here that Bill Clinton opened his presidential office after leaving the White House (the community's pride in that fact has since gauzed over the fact that Clinton only settled down here after facing criticism for trying to rent ritzy offices on the 57th floor of a Midtown Manhattan skyscraper). When Hillary Clinton chose last month to deliver a sweeping speech on the systematic racism plaguing the country — ahead of the South Carolina primary where she crushed Sanders among black voters — Harlem served as the backdrop.

“Harlem means a lot to the Clintons,” said New York State Assemblyman Keith Wright, who is running for Rangel’s congressional seat. “We welcomed Bill Clinton as a community. When other communities didn’t welcome him, we were glad to have him. Hillary knows where 125th Street is. She knows how to get there. I believe it has a special place in their hearts and minds, but politically as well.”

The former president isn’t here much anymore, but he began rekindling relationships with local elected officials and faith leaders on Monday over a closed-to-the-press breakfast of grits, eggs, crabcakes, sausage and potatoes at Londel’s on 138th Street. Clinton, who keeps a mostly vegan diet, didn’t eat anything, an attendee said. But he dug into issues of importance to the community with gusto in a gathering that included prominent local players like the Rev. Calvin O. Butts, City Councilwoman Inez Dickens and Congressman Gregory Meeks.

On Wednesday morning, Hillary Clinton treated her return to the Apollo Theater as a sort of homecoming. “This community has made me and my family feel like a part of your family,” Clinton told the crowd that packed the historic music hall. Behind her on stage, supporters held signs welcoming her home.

Race was not her focus on Wednesday — Clinton came to Harlem to remind New York voters of her record as senator, but also to warn of the unfitness of both her primary challenger and the Republican front-runner for the White House.

“We need a president who can do all parts of the job,” said Clinton, while talking about Sanders’ limitations and highlighting his five votes against the Brady Bill.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders visited Harlem last month for a breakfast at Sylvia’s with the Rev. Al Sharpton, who has yet to endorse any candidate in the race. | AP Photo

She dismissed his promises of free college and universal health care for all as impractical.

“Some of his ideas for how to get there won’t pass, others just won’t work because the numbers don’t add up,” she said.

Quoting the late poet Maya Angelou, a Harlem resident whom she called a “personal heroine,” Clinton said that “when someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

Trump, she said, “plays coy with white supremacists. He says demeaning things about women. He wants to round up millions of Latino immigrants and kick them out of the United States.” She called his plans to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the country “cynical, it’s wrong and it goes against everything New York and America stand for.”

Singling out Trump is a central part of the campaign’s New York primary strategy, designed to rally progressives to Clinton’s cause by reminding them of the high stakes of the general election.

“You better believe that if Mr. Cruz or Mr. Trump got to pick the next court justice they’d get rid of unions, they’d undo the Voting Rights Act, they’d allow poisonous money to cascade into our system and ruin it,” Sen. Chuck Schumer said as he introduced his former Senate colleague. “This isn’t fun and games, folks. This is the future of America. We have to ensure that Hillary is president. We cannot have the vision of the other party.”

In their speeches, Schumer and Clinton reminded supporters of her greatest local hits as senator, ranging from fighting for federal funding to rebuild Lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks to battling for health benefits for the families of sick police officers and firefighters who served as first responders to cleaning up Long Island Sound.

“Hillary is no stranger here,” Schumer said. “And she’s no stranger to the people of New York. We know her, we love her, and we can’t wait for her to be president.”

In recent weeks, Clinton has tried to be self-deprecating about her own natural skills as a politician, admitting she’s not as gifted at inspiring crowds as her husband or President Barack Obama. But in Harlem, lawmakers lauded one political gift she possesses that has bought her loyalty here: an impressive ability to remember names and backstories of people she has worked with.

“I haven’t seen her since she became secretary of state,” said Wright, the assemblyman. “When I did see her [last month at an event at the Schomburg Center], the first thing she said was, ‘Keith, how are you?’”

Wright said he was stunned and flattered by her instant recall. “She asked about the family,” he said. “Campaigns are certainly won on issues and raising money, but the most important thing in any campaign is relationships. Were you there when we needed you, and she’s been there.”

