Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Will Endorse Bernie Sanders’ 2020 Bid

(Bloomberg) -- Bernie Sanders secured two endorsements from high-profile Democratic freshmen -- New York’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar -- giving him a star-power boost for his rally in New York this weekend.

Ocasio-Cortez will join the Vermont senator’s event on Saturday, according to Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir.

“She will help us build the multiracial working class coalition we need to win and transform this country,” Shakir said of the congresswoman from the Bronx.

The move by the first-term representative, who has become a celebrity among the left for her unabashedly left-wing policies and combative attitude, is a boost to Sanders’ campaign. He has fallen to third place in polling, overtaken by liberal rival Elizabeth Warren who is now tied with Joe Biden.

This weekend’s ally will be Sanders’ first campaign event since he suffered a heart attack on Oct. 1.

Corbin Trent, an Ocasio-Cortez aide, said: “We’re looking forward to Saturday.”

Ocasio-Cortez was an organizer for the runner-up 2016 primary campaign of Sanders. Both call themselves democratic-socialists.

Representative Omar, a close ally of Ocasio-Cortez, also endorsed Sanders on Tuesday night, saying he’s “leading a working class movement to defeat Donald Trump that transcends generation, ethnicity, and geography.”

“I believe Bernie Sanders is the best candidate to take on Donald Trump in 2020,” Omar said in a statement.

--With assistance from Katia Dmitrieva.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sahil Kapur in Washington at skapur39@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anna Edgerton at aedgerton@bloomberg.net, Wendy Benjaminson

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