James Brown vs. Merengue: Volunteers Rally Ahead of Primary in 13th Congressional District

At St. Nicholas Park in Central Harlem, dozens of volunteers for Assemblyman Keith Wright gathered in the park to get their marching orders. They were made up of mostly SEIU Union members, many of whom don't live in the district. They were given manila envelopes with addresses of voters. A day of door-to-door knocking to pass out pamphlets and get voter info. Meanwhile, a sound truck cruised through the streets blasting ads for Keith Wright, over songs like "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," and James Brown's "Papa Don't Take No Mess."

"That's actually Keith's favorite song, 'Papa Don't Take no Mess,' " Maurice Cummings, Wright's special assistant, and the creator of the ad, said. "He's not taking any mess during the race."

Cummings also volunteered for Rangel's campaign in the past, but never needed a soundtrack for him.

"The Lion of Lennox Avenue doesn't need any super production his voice and his aura, when he enters the room, he changes the air quality," Cummings said.

Across town on the east side, supporters of Adriano Espaillat gathered around a white school bus with no top, covered in American flags that blasted Merengue music from two massive speakers.

Radhames Lopez, a retired bus driver from Boston, has driven the bus for campaigns for Hillary Clinton, Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio. Now he rides for Espaillat.

"Vida! He's beautiful," Lopez said.

Meanwhile, dozens of supporters on the sidewalk chanted: "Es pa’llá que vamos, Congress Americano." (Congress, that's where we're going.)

Like many people in the crowd, Yomaris Maldonado, 57, has been a long-time supporter of Espaillat. She owns a small business helping immigrants with paper work and has converted her office into a phone bank. She said many people don't even know there is an election on Tuesday.

"People say, what? Really," she said. "There's a lot of people who are not informed properly."

She's hoping between the phone calls—and the white salsa bus—residents of Upper Manhattan will get the message.

Correction, the on-air version misidentifies the music out of the white bus as salsa. It is obviously Merengue.