Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer and actor Kal Penn (Jimmy Van Bramer for Queens Borough President)
Jan. 26, 2021 By Allie Griffin
Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer earned an endorsement from Hollywood today.
Van Bramer was endorsed by actor Kal Penn, who starred in NBC’s short-lived show “Sunnyside,” for Queens Borough President Tuesday.
Penn played a disgraced former council member whose district included Sunnyside — the same neighborhood represented by Van Bramer in the council — on the show. The show was pulled from the air after just four episodes, with the remainder of the season available to stream online.
The actor, who also worked as a White House staff member under President Barack Obama, said he has been impressed by Van Bramer’s record of helping Queens residents.
“Jimmy’s care for his constituents has stood out in my mind since meeting him,” Penn said in a statement. “He has a strong, progressive record of protecting working families and community businesses, and has been impressively inclusive and forward-thinking.”
He said Van Bramer will help the borough recover from the pandemic.
“Given the health and economic hardships facing our fellow New Yorkers, I’m especially excited to support the candidacy of someone as experienced, tough, and caring as Jimmy,” Penn said.
It’s Penn’s second time endorsing Van Bramer for Queens Borough President.
He gave Van Bramer his stamp of approval in January of last year when a special election was scheduled to replace former Borough President Melinda Katz. Katz vacated her seat to take over as Queens District Attorney.
Van Bramer dropped out of the race later that month, citing family reasons, and the election was ultimately won by Donovan Richards. Richards will serve as borough president through the end of the year — to complete Katz’s term.
Richards and Van Bramer will once again face off — this time for a full four-year term. A primary for Queens Borough President will be held in June, followed by a general election in November.
According to the New York City Campaign Finance Board, Danniel Maio, a mapmaker from Forest Hills; Stan Morse, tenant organizer with the Justice for All Coalition; and Diana Sanchez have also filed candidate certifications for the BP seat.
Former Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, who came in second to Richards in the June 2020 primary, is also mulling another run.
Featured Events
31 Comments
That show “Sunnyside” was Penn’s personal weekly editorial on immigration policy masquerading as a sitcom. Not funny.
Anyway, how do you do a show about this part of Queens, Subnnyside/Woodside, without including the Irish?
A bit like setting a show in Harlem and not including any black characters.
I hear a store owner on the corner of 43rd and 46th has video of JVB running away from the scene of an accident where a vehicle struck a biker in the protected bike lane.
I down voted this because nobody was suppose to know!
Why no mask in the picture? We all have to wear one in supermarket.
God help us all if he gets elected
New series: Everybody Hates Jimmy. New episodes every Thursday. Streaming exclusively on Peacock.
They are all ass kissing establishment lackeys. What
Queens needs is someone that is not in cahoots with all the other corrupt politicians in the City. Don’t like either Van Bramer or Richards.
Just because an actor was in a short lived show called Sunnyside doesn’t mean he knows the first thing about the neighborhood. This guy isn’t even from Queens and has probably never even lived in Queens either so why is he endorsing a Queens politician?
Don’t we have this new plan to combat covid 19? Triple Masks are more efficient and are suggested?? I see 3 clowns and Not One has a Mask… why are they insisting we wear more masks if they don’t wear any??? Is This is all a big show???
Jimmy has done great work for the arts but has done little to get people of Woodside / Sunnyside back to work. Crime is up, unemployment is up and the area has little effective representation at City Hall.
Jimmy Van B of 3 years ago was champion for the whole community but seems to have lost his way.
Enough already Jimmy, it won’t work no matter how many celebrities you waltz in to support you. You let us down, did not support Amazon jobs, would have put LIC and Queens on the Global map, you support closing of Rikers, bail reform which releases criminals on our streets, you support homeless hotels and the syndicate that runs these flop houses bilking us the tax payer to tge tune if $1 billion plus per yr
I live in Queens and don’t know who any of these people are. I’m not interested in supporting a politician or actor who pretend like COVID doesn’t exist. It’s appalling.
Van Beamer has about as much chance of winning the Queens BP election as I do. And I’m not running. The incumbent Donovan Richards is going to make this a referendum on Amazon, and van Bramer will realize that his woke nonsense doesn’t play as well boroughwide.
Great. Put can brammer in charge of the borough of Queens so he can screw up the rest of the roads with useless bike lanes, entrances and exits to the express lanes on Queens Blvd, and eliminating parking thus driving out businesses. Van Brammer made a mess of Skillman and 43rd Aves! Enough!
Maybe Kal and Jim can help the homeless people living under the 7?
Oh ok, Kal Penn endorsed Jimmy! Now I’ll vote for him. Not. 2 goofballs. Nice fake pose by Kal. Did he rehearse that.
JVB is his own worst enemy. He’s made a joke of himself, and stunts like this shows how little he understands about what matters to real people. He will lose this race badly and I can’t wait for him to fade away into obscurity.
25 Thousand jobs for western queens would be nice round about now
JVB thinks he is going to get a screen actor’s card from this fool – this show was cancelled after 4 episodes it was so bad — they both deserve each other
He was in House MD then he wanted to become politician then comedian again in “sunnyside” then politics again? I guess his endorsement might help for some people but he isn’t from NY either, right?
You know JVB should get endorsement of local store owners like the fish store on 46th that big guy, or the UPS store the Flagship folks, Donut place, the supermarkets, restaurants, etc.. If he can.
Three guys in a grocery store with NO masks. Tone deaf.
was going to say the same. where are their masks?
And this is @Garden Watcher at his/her/x (don’t want to offend him/her/x) did I get it right? Wait, I forgot what I was saying….
Gardens is plural. Best of luck with your brain fog.
politicians make the rules. They dont have to follow them.
#socialism #fascism #communism
Stop the presses: One failure endorses another failure!” Did anyone at the photoshoot check to see if there were thumbtacks around Mr. Penn’s feet?
Wait, what’s with the NASA shirt? I am gonna vote now, for real.
Oh, that’s a ringing endorsement – ok – I changed my mind! None of the above are worthy of votes.
Well it would only make sense that the guy who created the tv show Sunnyside would endorse a clueless politician like JVB. I will still watch his movies while eating white castle, however, those castle burgers will not taste the same now.
The show wasn’t even filmed here. Let me know when someone important and part our community endorses Jimmy.
Who?