Van Bramer and Choe cross-endorse ahead of Flushing business tour

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Queens Borough President candidate Jimmy Van Bramer and Flushing council candidate John Choe are backing each other’s bids for office. City Council photo; campaign photo

Queens Borough President candidate Jimmy Van Bramer and Flushing council candidate John Choe are backing each other’s bids for office. City Council photo; campaign photo

By David Brand

A pair of Queens progressives are backing each other’s bids for office ahead of a tour of Flushing small businesses Saturday.

Jimmy Van Bramer, a Western Queens councilmember running for borough president, and John Choe, a nonprofit leader vying for a Flushing council seat, touted their support for commercial rent control and their opposition to the Special Flushing Waterfront District luxury development project.

Choe, the head of the Greater Flushing Chamber of Commerce, helped lead fierce opposition to the waterfront redevelopment plan. The city council approved the project, but Van Bramer voted no.

“I am thrilled to endorse John Choe for City Council District 20 and to have his endorsement as we fight for a Queens that works for all of us! John is a fierce champion for Flushing and Murray Hill small businesses, especially in the face of this dual pandemic of COVID and Asian hate,” Van Bramer said in a statement.

Van Bramer is one of three Democrats running for borough president, along with incumbent Donovan Richards and former Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley.

Choe, a former legislative director for State Sen. John Liu, said he and Van Bramer have worked together on community issues that bridge working class people across the borough.

“I'm proud to have fought side by side with Jimmy for affordable housing, good jobs, public transit, libraries and the arts as well as fighting for the human rights of all, including immigrants, people of color and lesbian, gay and transgender New Yorkers,” Choe said.

Choe is one of 11 candidates running in Council District 20. The other candidates include Anthony Miranda, Dao Yin, Ellen Young, Hailing Chen, Isak Khaimov, Ming-Kang Low, Neng Wang, Sam Wong, Sandra Ung and Yu-Ching Pai.

The district’s incumbent councilmember, Peter Koo, is term-limited at the end of the is year.