In the days leading up to his annual State of the City address, Mayor Bill de Blasio turned up the volume on Democratic progressivism, announcing NYC Care, an initiative that offers super affordable healthcare to New York City’s low-income earners, roughly 600,000 in all. Half of those New Yorkers are undocumented immigrants.

The announcement happened in the Bronx. The plan will kick off in the Bronx.

In his State of the City address this year, de Blasio outlined an overdue but vague plan to draw the “best and brightest” teachers to public schools.

The schools to receive new teachers will only happen for the Bronx.

This year’s State of the City address saw de Blasio put the Bronx on the map, a point not lost on Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., a vocal critic of the mayor who attended the address. De Blasio brought up the borough by name six times, more than he did in prior State of the City addresses.

But why? We tend to think that there’s no borough more in need of progressive action than the Bronx, home to 28.4 percent living within the federal poverty level. And if de Blasio wants to be the king of progressive causes as a means of raising his national profile on the same scale as say Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez or even Governor Andrew Cuomo he’d better turn to the Bronx. After all, what better way to position oneself as an uber-progressive than promising to help the marginalized? And the Bronx has no shortage of those forgotten by government when compared to the rest of the city.

De Blasio is arguably the original voice of progressivism. He ran on it in 2013, and is hoping it will pay off nationally.

In his remarks, de Blasio placed the city in the larger context of America, labeling it safest, and longing to make it fairest. Political observers have noted this is a blatant attempt by de Blasio to spread his wings across the country.

What better way to build the resume for a long shot at the U.S. Presidency than making New York City the progressive capital of America (sidebar: de Blasio mentioned the word ‘America’ and ‘country’ a combined 18 times)? De Blasio was asked the question of whether he’d run for President by CNN’s Jake Tapper. He touted the same old line, focusing on New York.

It’s the same line pushed by Cuomo, another rumored Presidential candidate.

On the ground, Bronx residents won’t care much about motive. Greater access to healthcare and better resources in public schools are on the minds of residents, not posturing. If you can bring in the pork, then damn if they care if they’re political pawns.