Early Sunday afternoon, candidate for Attorney General, Richard Brodsky, participated in an event at Asser Levy Park in Coney Island, Brooklyn, where members of the Russian immigrant community were commemorating the anniversary of 9/11. Despite gray skies and passing showers, a few hundred people were gathered at the park.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Brodsky said shortly after arriving at the event.

Brodsky has been courting the Russian-speaking community like no other candidate in the AG race and has visited the so called “Little Odessa” in south Brooklyn many times this year.

“I’ve been campaigning regularly out there,” said Brodsky. He also met with the community of Bukharian Jews in Queens and has been advertising in Russian-language media.

“It’s a way to reconnect with my roots, too,” says Brodsky who keeps reminding potential voters in the south Brooklyn area that his grandparents came from Odessa. 

When he stood in front of the microphone on Sunday, many in the crowd already knew very well who he is, and some had already declared their support for him.

“It’s not that we in the community are talking about who we want to choose for attorney general. But we hear his ads on the Russian radio all the time. We don’t hear about any other candidates,” said Alina Vladovskaya, who came to the U.S. from Ukraine around 20 years ago.

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This story was produced by Feet in 2 Worlds, a project at The New School's Center for New York City Affairs. Feet in Two Worlds coverage of the New York Primary is supported, in part, by the New York Community Trust.