Brooklyn feeling the love from presidential candidates

Sanders, Clinton, Cruz and Kasich all make appearances

April 11, 2016 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., gestures to the crowd while ordering a hot dog at Nathans Famous in Coney Island on Sunday. AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

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Brooklyn is getting a great deal of attention from presidential candidates in both parties as primary day approaches, with White House hopefuls campaigning all over the borough seeking support from voters.

Both the Republican and the Democratic primaries will take place on April 19, and with the races on both sides far from settled, New York State, for the first time in a long time, is holding primaries that matter. In past presidential elections, the candidates have usually garnered enough support from convention delegates to secure the nominations of their parties by the time the New York Primary rolled around.

As of Monday, GOP front-runner Donald Trump had yet to campaign here, but his two rivals, Ohio Governor John Kasich and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, were making themselves quite comfortable in Kings County.

On Thursday night, Kasich came to Bay Ridge, holding a town hall at the Bay Ridge Manor with television personality Montel Williams, who has endorsed him.

The Ohio governor vowed to simplify the tax code, reduce the corporate tax rate and accomplish entitlement reform. He touted his success in Ohio, where he said he has balanced the budget and successfully reached across the aisle to work with Democrats.

“And by the way, we won’t leave anyone behind,” he said, telling the packed ballroom that poor people and others needing help get that help.

Kasich also vowed that he would maintain the high road and would not “get down into the mud” and insult his GOP rivals the way that they have been insulting each other.

Trump and Cruz have been hitting each other with personal attacks for weeks.

Still, Kasich apparently couldn’t resist getting in a dig at Trump and the front-runner’s lack of government experience.

“People think, ‘Well, we’ll pick Trump because he’s not a politician.’ He’ll have to spend the first hundred days trying to figure out where the bathrooms are,” Kasich said.

Kasich also took a swipe at Washington D.C. “The spirit of America is not in Washington. It’s here, with you,” he told the crowd.

He loves New York, he said. “What do I love best about New York? The neighborhoods.”

Kasich joked that New Yorkers have stuck by him, “even after the fork thing!” He was referring to the drubbing he took in the media after he was pictured eating a slice of pizza with a fork and knife during a campaign swing through Howard Beach.

The Bay Ridge Manor, located at 476 76th St., is owned by a relative of state Sen. Marty Golden (R-C-Bay Ridge-Southwest Brooklyn), but Golden did not attend the Kasich town hall.

Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis (R-C-Bay Ridge-Staten Island) was there, but she told the Brooklyn Eagle she was not endorsing anyone just yet. Malliotakis was New York State campaign chairman for Florida Senator Marco Rubio, but Rubio has dropped out of the presidential race.

Earlier on Thursday, Cruz made two stops in Brighton Beach in an effort to court the Orthodox Jewish vote. Cruz, whose remark disparaging Trump’s “New York values” at a GOP debate raised the ire of many of the city’s residents, stopped by the Chabad Neshama Model Bakery and tried his hand at making matzo, DNA Info reported.

He then headed over to the Jewish Center of Brighton Beach on Ocean Parkway to talk to members of the Orthodox Jewish community about his support for Israel, according to DNA Info.

There is no shortage of love for Brooklyn on the Democratic side of the aisle.

Not only is former secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s campaign headquarters located in Brooklyn Heights, but her rival, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders had campaign events all over Brooklyn. Sanders was born in Midwood.

Sanders held a campaign rally on the Coney Island Boardwalk on Sunday. A day earlier, Clinton spoke at a rally at Industry City in Sunset Park.

Sanders also held a rally called “A Future to Believe in Flatbush Rally” on Friday morning outside his childhood home 1525 East 26th St. with a special guest, actor Mark Ruffalo.

In the afternoon, Sanders campaigned in Greenpoint with another high-profile supporter, Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon.

On April 14, Sanders and Clinton will go head to head in a debate at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.