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Heads Up: There's A Congressional Primary On Tuesday
BY NATHAN TEMPEY IN NEWS ON JUN 27, 2016 12:06 PM
(Scott Lynch/Gothamist)
You'd be forgiven for not knowing there's a congressional primary on Tuesday, what with all theother important stuff going on around here.
Matter of fact, in the three New York City congressional districts that had contested Democratic primaries in 2014, just 30,915 of 877,272 (or 3.5 percent of eligible voters) turned out, meaning longtime incumbents skated to victory on proportionally huge but numerically tiny margins of, for example, 6,000 votes—and that's in the districts where there was a contest at all. In the 13 other congressional districts in or touching New York City—a 14th had a Republican primary—no one put up a fight. In a majority-Democrat city, that meant that apart from the Staten Island-southern Brooklyn embrace of then-under-indictment Republican Michael Grimm over Democratic challenger Domenic Recchia, most of the city's congressional picks were decided by a tiny group of voters in June, or by party operatives alone.
So who's running in this biannual contest of great importance that so few New York residents seem to care about? There are seven contested primaries this go-round, all Democratic.
The most high-profile and contentious race is uptown in District 13, represented for the last 46 years by Charles Rangel. The district spans Harlem, East Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, Kingsbridge, Bedford Park, Norwood and Fordam Hill.
There is a lot of name recognition in the pack. Former assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV is up against Assemblyman Keith Wright, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, state Sen. Guillermo Linares, and Clyde Williams, former political director for the Democratic National Committee and Clinton Foundation staffer. At the back of the pack are former ambassador for religious freedom Suzan Johnson Cook and publisher Sam Sloan.
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#cbrangel walks rally's down 125th street in support of#KeithWright2016 for Congress District 13 New York#HARLEM#
5:35 PM - 30 Apr 2016
The ethically challenged, chronically absent Rangel has endorsed Wright.
In District 5, which includes Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village and part of the Rockaways, nine-term incumbent Gregory Meeks is trying to fend off a challenge from Elmont, Long Island public relations firm owner Ali Mirza. Meeks has faced repeated federal investigations over the course of his tenure, including for steering thousands of dollars to a nonprofit he founded with the stated intent of helping Hurricane Katrina victims, when little money ultimately was passed on, and for failing to report a $40,000 loan from a real estate broker who later pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud in an unrelated scheme.
No formal charges have been brought against Meeks. Mirza is pledging to fight for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, criminal sentencing reform, curtailing U.S. military interventions in the Middle East, and other issues. Meeks refused to debate Mirza. Since 2007, Meeks has missed 7.7 percent of House votes, according to a Pro Publica analysis, making him the second least engaged New York City representative after Charles Rangel, who missed 11.4 percent of votes.
In District 7, which encompasses Chinatown, Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, Park Slope, Ridgewood, Bushwick, and Woodhaven, 12-term incumbent Nydia Velazquez is running against two longshot challengers: Jeff Kurzon and Yungman Lee. Lee runs the Chinatown bank Global Bank and is counting on the support of Chinese voters, whom he says Velazquez has not done enough to represent. Kurzon, a corporate lawyer who put up 19 percent against Velazquez in 2014, and is hoping to channel the energy behind Bernie Sanders's formidable showing in the Democratic presidential primary, centering his messaging around campaign finance reform, marijuana legalization, and other progressive wish list items.
Velazquez is a reliable presence at rallies and press conferences for tenants in Williamsburg and Bushwick. She has also consistently raised money from financial giants, including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, and supported the 1999 loosening of the Glass-Steagall Act, which is widely credited with contributing to the mortgage speculation that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
Velazquez has asked the Department of Justice to monitor the primary following the revelation that massive improper voter purges in Brooklyn earlier this year disproportionately affected Hispanic voters and voters in her district.
In District 10, encompassing the Financial District, Battery Park City, Tribeca, SoHo, Greenwich Village, the East Village, Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen, Midtown West, the Upper West Side, Borough Park, part of Bensonhurst, and a strip of Bay Ridge and Sunset Park, 12-term incumbentJerrold Nadler is up against Oliver Rosenberg. Rosenberg, a healthcare app CEO and Orthodox Jew, said he was motivated to run because of Nadler's support of the recent deal to lift some sanctions on Iran in exchange for preventing the country from obtaining nuclear arms, which Rosenberg considers dangerous to Israel. Rosenberg, who voted Republican in his former home Los Angeles as recently as 2012, is also for banning assault weapons, shutting down the Indian Point nuclear power plant, and legalizing marijuana.
Nadler was an ardent proponent of gay marriage. Though he is a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, he has thus far been unable to secure the billions needed for his dream of a cross-harbor freight rail tunnel.
In District 12, ranging across the Lower East Side, Union Square, Kips Bay, the Flatiron District, Murray Hill, Midtown East, the Upper East Side, and part of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, 12-term incumbent Carolyn Maloney is opposed by Pete Lindner. Lindner lacks campaign staff and funds, and Maloney has refused to debate him.
District 15, covering Mott Haven, Hunts Point, Tremont, West Farms, and Melrose, has been the domain of Rep. José Serrano for 26 years, or 13 terms. Leonel Baez, a local community board member, is mounting a token opposition, having raised no money and done little outreach.
In District 3, which covers Whitestone and Bay Terrace in northeast Queens and extends into the North Shore of Long Island, there is a five-way race for the seat being vacated by Congressman Steve Israel. Jon Kaiman, director of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority and ally of Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing former Nassau County Executive and gubernatorial also-ran Thomas Suozzi, North Hempstead Town Board member Anna Kaplan, Suffolk County legislator and elder attorney Steve Stern, and criminal defense and personal injury lawyer andBerniecrat Jonathan Clarke.
Suozzi leads the pack in fundraising and has been endorsed by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, while Stern has the endorsement of outgoing Rep. Israel. Clarke is running an outsider campaign, pledging to push for public financing of elections and abandoning Common Core, among other issues.
The winner of District 3's Democratic primary will go on to face Republican state Sen. Jack Martins. The district is one of several across the state with possibly competitive races ahead between Democrats and Republicans, meaning the outcome of the November general election there will help determine whether Republicans maintain control of Congress. Another such district is in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, where Republican Rep. Chris Gibson is retiring after three terms. Anti-corruption law professor and recent Dutchess County transplant Zephyr Teachout is polling ahead of local farmer and environmentalist Will Yandik in the Democratic primary. The winner could face former Republican assemblyman John Faso in the general election.
The general election is set for November 8th. Before that, on September 13th, state primaries are scheduled. The scheduling of three primaries on separate days in the same year—thepresidential primary was in April—and New York's persistent low voter turnout has prompted observers to call for consolidating the state and congressional primary, which the New York Times estimates would save the state $50 million.
The Tuesday primary is going to be a test for the New York City Board of Elections, which badly bungled April's presidential primary. The improper purging of 120,000 Brooklyn voters just more than two weeks before that election still has not been fully explained.
To check on your registration status, and find out what congressional district you're in, clickhere. To find your poll site, click here. To see who's running in your district, click here.
The registration deadline for new voters has passed. Absentee ballot requests must have been postmarked by June 21st, and the absentee ballots themselves have to be postmarked by today. Absentee ballots can be requested in person at one's local Board of Elections office until the end of business today.
Polls are open on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Heads Up: There's A Congressional Primary On Tuesday
BY NATHAN TEMPEY IN NEWS ON JUN 27, 2016 12:06 PM
(Scott Lynch/Gothamist)
You'd be forgiven for not knowing there's a congressional primary on Tuesday, what with all theother important stuff going on around here.
Matter of fact, in the three New York City congressional districts that had contested Democratic primaries in 2014, just 30,915 of 877,272 (or 3.5 percent of eligible voters) turned out, meaning longtime incumbents skated to victory on proportionally huge but numerically tiny margins of, for example, 6,000 votes—and that's in the districts where there was a contest at all. In the 13 other congressional districts in or touching New York City—a 14th had a Republican primary—no one put up a fight. In a majority-Democrat city, that meant that apart from the Staten Island-southern Brooklyn embrace of then-under-indictment Republican Michael Grimm over Democratic challenger Domenic Recchia, most of the city's congressional picks were decided by a tiny group of voters in June, or by party operatives alone.
So who's running in this biannual contest of great importance that so few New York residents seem to care about? There are seven contested primaries this go-round, all Democratic.
The most high-profile and contentious race is uptown in District 13, represented for the last 46 years by Charles Rangel. The district spans Harlem, East Harlem, Washington Heights, Inwood, Kingsbridge, Bedford Park, Norwood and Fordam Hill.
There is a lot of name recognition in the pack. Former assemblyman Adam Clayton Powell IV is up against Assemblyman Keith Wright, state Sen. Adriano Espaillat, state Sen. Guillermo Linares, and Clyde Williams, former political director for the Democratic National Committee and Clinton Foundation staffer. At the back of the pack are former ambassador for religious freedom Suzan Johnson Cook and publisher Sam Sloan.
View image on Twitter
Follow
EMF Consulting @EMFConsulting#cbrangel walks rally's down 125th street in support of#KeithWright2016 for Congress District 13 New York#HARLEM#
5:35 PM - 30 Apr 2016
The ethically challenged, chronically absent Rangel has endorsed Wright.
In District 5, which includes Jamaica, St. Albans, Queens Village and part of the Rockaways, nine-term incumbent Gregory Meeks is trying to fend off a challenge from Elmont, Long Island public relations firm owner Ali Mirza. Meeks has faced repeated federal investigations over the course of his tenure, including for steering thousands of dollars to a nonprofit he founded with the stated intent of helping Hurricane Katrina victims, when little money ultimately was passed on, and for failing to report a $40,000 loan from a real estate broker who later pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud in an unrelated scheme.
No formal charges have been brought against Meeks. Mirza is pledging to fight for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, criminal sentencing reform, curtailing U.S. military interventions in the Middle East, and other issues. Meeks refused to debate Mirza. Since 2007, Meeks has missed 7.7 percent of House votes, according to a Pro Publica analysis, making him the second least engaged New York City representative after Charles Rangel, who missed 11.4 percent of votes.
In District 7, which encompasses Chinatown, Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Carroll Gardens, Gowanus, Park Slope, Ridgewood, Bushwick, and Woodhaven, 12-term incumbent Nydia Velazquez is running against two longshot challengers: Jeff Kurzon and Yungman Lee. Lee runs the Chinatown bank Global Bank and is counting on the support of Chinese voters, whom he says Velazquez has not done enough to represent. Kurzon, a corporate lawyer who put up 19 percent against Velazquez in 2014, and is hoping to channel the energy behind Bernie Sanders's formidable showing in the Democratic presidential primary, centering his messaging around campaign finance reform, marijuana legalization, and other progressive wish list items.
Velazquez is a reliable presence at rallies and press conferences for tenants in Williamsburg and Bushwick. She has also consistently raised money from financial giants, including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, and supported the 1999 loosening of the Glass-Steagall Act, which is widely credited with contributing to the mortgage speculation that led to the 2008 financial crisis.
Velazquez has asked the Department of Justice to monitor the primary following the revelation that massive improper voter purges in Brooklyn earlier this year disproportionately affected Hispanic voters and voters in her district.
In District 10, encompassing the Financial District, Battery Park City, Tribeca, SoHo, Greenwich Village, the East Village, Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen, Midtown West, the Upper West Side, Borough Park, part of Bensonhurst, and a strip of Bay Ridge and Sunset Park, 12-term incumbentJerrold Nadler is up against Oliver Rosenberg. Rosenberg, a healthcare app CEO and Orthodox Jew, said he was motivated to run because of Nadler's support of the recent deal to lift some sanctions on Iran in exchange for preventing the country from obtaining nuclear arms, which Rosenberg considers dangerous to Israel. Rosenberg, who voted Republican in his former home Los Angeles as recently as 2012, is also for banning assault weapons, shutting down the Indian Point nuclear power plant, and legalizing marijuana.
Nadler was an ardent proponent of gay marriage. Though he is a senior member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, he has thus far been unable to secure the billions needed for his dream of a cross-harbor freight rail tunnel.
In District 12, ranging across the Lower East Side, Union Square, Kips Bay, the Flatiron District, Murray Hill, Midtown East, the Upper East Side, and part of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, 12-term incumbent Carolyn Maloney is opposed by Pete Lindner. Lindner lacks campaign staff and funds, and Maloney has refused to debate him.
District 15, covering Mott Haven, Hunts Point, Tremont, West Farms, and Melrose, has been the domain of Rep. José Serrano for 26 years, or 13 terms. Leonel Baez, a local community board member, is mounting a token opposition, having raised no money and done little outreach.
In District 3, which covers Whitestone and Bay Terrace in northeast Queens and extends into the North Shore of Long Island, there is a five-way race for the seat being vacated by Congressman Steve Israel. Jon Kaiman, director of the Nassau Interim Finance Authority and ally of Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing former Nassau County Executive and gubernatorial also-ran Thomas Suozzi, North Hempstead Town Board member Anna Kaplan, Suffolk County legislator and elder attorney Steve Stern, and criminal defense and personal injury lawyer andBerniecrat Jonathan Clarke.
Suozzi leads the pack in fundraising and has been endorsed by Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, while Stern has the endorsement of outgoing Rep. Israel. Clarke is running an outsider campaign, pledging to push for public financing of elections and abandoning Common Core, among other issues.
The winner of District 3's Democratic primary will go on to face Republican state Sen. Jack Martins. The district is one of several across the state with possibly competitive races ahead between Democrats and Republicans, meaning the outcome of the November general election there will help determine whether Republicans maintain control of Congress. Another such district is in the Hudson Valley and Catskills, where Republican Rep. Chris Gibson is retiring after three terms. Anti-corruption law professor and recent Dutchess County transplant Zephyr Teachout is polling ahead of local farmer and environmentalist Will Yandik in the Democratic primary. The winner could face former Republican assemblyman John Faso in the general election.
The general election is set for November 8th. Before that, on September 13th, state primaries are scheduled. The scheduling of three primaries on separate days in the same year—thepresidential primary was in April—and New York's persistent low voter turnout has prompted observers to call for consolidating the state and congressional primary, which the New York Times estimates would save the state $50 million.
The Tuesday primary is going to be a test for the New York City Board of Elections, which badly bungled April's presidential primary. The improper purging of 120,000 Brooklyn voters just more than two weeks before that election still has not been fully explained.
To check on your registration status, and find out what congressional district you're in, clickhere. To find your poll site, click here. To see who's running in your district, click here.
The registration deadline for new voters has passed. Absentee ballot requests must have been postmarked by June 21st, and the absentee ballots themselves have to be postmarked by today. Absentee ballots can be requested in person at one's local Board of Elections office until the end of business today.
Polls are open on Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Heads Up: There's A Congressional Primary On Tuesday
