Presidential issues trickle down to NY House contests
One political report rates the November race in Rep. Lee Zeldin's district as a tossup regardless of who wins the Democratic primary. This year's presidential race may have an impact on local elections. Credit: Ed Betz
New Yorkers vote again on Tuesday, June 28, in a smattering of congressional primaries. The passions of the presidential contest keep trickling down to these races — mostly as a way to rally the partisan faithful.
In Suffolk’s 1st Congressional District, David Calone ran an ad this month stating that Anna Throne-Holst, his rival for the Democratic nomination, “gave money to the Conservative Party three times.”
“Think about that. The Conservative Party supports Donald Trump,” the ad says.
But Throne-Holst, in an ad of her own, said Trump is “a racist [and] a sexist and represents everything I fought against in my life.”
Back in March, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley), who has endorsed Trump, said “My district and the American public are ready to move on past these never-ending Clinton for president campaigns that have gone on for decades.”
At the moment, the Cook Political Report rates the November race in Zeldin’s district as a tossup regardless of who wins the Democratic primary.
Trump’s name also recently cropped up as an attack line in the Democratic primary for the three-county 3rd C.D.
Suffolk Legis. Steve Stern called on rival Thomas Suozzi to return $11,000 he received from ex-Democrat Trump in a past campaign. Suozzi called the criticism “destructive.”
Another candidate for the seat, Anna Kaplan, who came to the U.S. as a Jewish child fleeing the Iranian revolution, on Friday released hate messages she described as coming to her from self-proclaimed Trump supporters. Kaplan has been publicly attacking Trump’s call to shut down all Muslim immigration.
In another Democratic district, a Trump-related line of fire is nothing new.
Back in 2014, when the now-presumptive GOP nominee was still challenging President Barack Obama’s birth certificate and citizenship, a rival slammed Rep. Charles Rangel for having sought Trump’s donations for an academic center at City College.
This year, in the same Harlem-based district, Rangel is retiring. One candidate to succeed him, Clyde Williams, accused primary rival Assemb. Keith Wright of having sided with Trump in a fight over an upstate Indian-run casino.
“Wright has never met Trump and believes that Trump is a repugnant racist,” Wright’s spokesman, who denied the allegation, told The Daily News.
Some of the local House races also reflect the presidential primary fight just ended.
Both Ali Mirza, in a long shot bid against Rep. Greg Meeks of Queens in a Democratic primary, and Yungman Lee, who’s challenging Rep. Nydia Velazquez of Brooklyn, have invoked Bernie Sanders’ name in their drive to unseat incumbents.
Dan Janison is a member of the Newsday editorial board.
