Bernie Sanders rallies supporters in the Bronx

BRONX – Sen. Bernie Sanders criticized what he called a rigged economy during a speech Thursday night at St. Mary’s Park, telling thousands of supporters a nation is judged not by the amount of millionaires and billionaires it creates, but how it treats its most vulnerable.

"What we are saying loudly and clearly is enough is enough," the Democratic presidential candidate from Vermont told the crowd.

During a 45-minute speech, Sanders riffed against corporate campaign financing, super-PACs and the Iraq War while promising to support increasing the minimum wage, building affordable housing and “bringing justice back to the criminal justice system” through measures including ending the privatization of prisons.

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Sanders spoke about how he grew up in a 3.5 room, rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn and told the diverse crowd he knew what it meant to struggle financially.

“Those lessons I will never forget,” he said.

Although Sanders declared his campaign platform of taking the country back from a rich few was part of a political revolution, the rally had an optimistic tone akin to a summer concert with a slew of young people and as many as 15,000 supporters packing the park and lining up on a hill to catch a view of the candidate.

Before the event began, supporters were hawking merchandise with the phrases "Feel the Bern" and "Bern Baby Bern" emblazoned on it like vendors outside a sporting event. Director Spike Lee and actress Rosario Dawson also spoke at the rally.

Oscar Salazar, a 20-year-old Elmsford resident and Sanders volunteer, wore a shirt with the candidate’s face and offered “Bernie hugs” for passersby. Salazar, a Purchase College student, said his nickname is “Bernie boy” and said although he’d vote for Hillary Clinton over the GOP choices, he had questions about Clinton’s honesty and her loyalty to Wall Street.

“She’s been flipflopping her whole life,” he said.

Luis Quiros, a 70-year old educator and activist from Mamaroneck, said being there reminded him of protesting the Vietnam War back in the early 1970s.

"I feel I belong here. We should be concerned about the millennial and younger" generation, Quiros said.

The rally was a mere 30 miles from the Chappaqua home of Hillary Clinton, his Democratic primary opponent. Earlier on Thursday, Clinton stopped by Horace Greeley High School before her rally at Purchase College. 

Both candidates have descended on the state to campaign for the primary on April 19. Clinton is favored to win the primary, but Sanders, a native Brooklynite, is looking to build on the momentum of winning five of six of the last primary contests with an upset in the adopted home state of Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton.

A new Quinnipiac University poll reported that Clinton holds a 12-point lead in New York over Sanders. The poll found a narrower gap between the two than the 21-point margin in a Sienna College poll released March 7.

Few expected New York to be a factor in the nominating process, but with the surge of Sanders' candidacy, the state came into play and could be a pivotal battleground in the primaries for the first time in decades.

Sanders may need to win and win big in the state to keep the possibility of winning the party's nomination within reach. Clinton leads Sanders in pledged delegates 1,243 to 980, with 2,383 needed to clinch the nomination. New York has the second most delegates of any state behind California, with 291 delegates, including 45 superdelegates whose votes won't necessarily reflect the results of the primary.

Twitter: @marklungariello