New Yorkers against Pelosi

Talking Point

Measuring minor-party success

How did minor-party candidates fare during the congressional midterms in New York?

One candidate may end up materially affecting the outcome, in the closely watched contest between indicted GOP Rep. Chris Collins and Democrat Nate McMurray. According to election night totals, Larry Piegza earned about 2 percent of the vote on the Reform Party line in that western New York race, which was more than the difference between the Democrat and Republican. Ballots in that race are still being counted.

Former Queens kingmaker Joe Crowley got more than 6 percent of the vote on the Working Families and Women’s Equality party lines combined, but not nearly enough to surreptitiously steal back his House seat from newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who upset him in the Democratic primary.

Minor-party candidates in other tight races won significant numbers of votes, though also not enough to sway results. The Green Party candidate in Staten Island and Brooklyn got close to half a percent of the vote as Democrat Max Rose ended up comfortably beating GOP Rep. Dan Donovan.

In Democrat Antonio Delgado’s win over Rep. John Faso in the Hudson Valley and to the west, the Greens’ Steven Greenfield and independent actress Diane Neal got a combined 2.5 percent, almost as much as the election night differential between Delgado and Faso.

And on Long Island, Kate Browning was on the map in the race between Democrat Perry Gershon and GOP Rep. Lee Zeldin, because she was still on the difficult-to-dump Women’s Equality Party line after losing in the Democratic primary. She actively campaigned for Gershon but still received just over 1 percent in the general election. Still, the race didn’t end up being close enough for that sum to matter.

Mark Chiusano

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Pencil Point

A new way to count

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Quick Points

Trump stokes the flames

• When President Donald Trump visited the California town of Paradise, obliterated in the Camp fire, he correctly said it was a “really, really bad one.” Then he said California should adopt fire-prevention techniques used in Finland, like raking forest floors, another really, really bad one.
• The Chinese city of Hangzhou has banned dog walking from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Look at it this way: It’s either full employment for dog walkers or full bladders for dogs.
• Though moderate candidates fueled Democrats in retaking the House, big donors are pushing the party to the left for 2020, believing that’s what’s needed to defeat President Donald Trump. Left and center can argue all they want, but the final say always belongs to the voters.
• Kansas county commissioner Louis Klemp is under fire after using the term “master race” while talking to a black consultant. Klemp also has wondered why the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday is celebrated when he says there is no such day for George Washington, and has said Abraham Lincoln’s importance is not understood because the Confederacy lost the Civil War. Which means Klemp has proved that if there is a master race, he’s not part of it.
• President Donald Trump has told associates that intense criticism of Saudi Arabia’s killing of Jamal Khashoggi is ridiculous given the similarly brutal practices of countries like China. Apparently not considering that one option is to condemn both, rather than ignore them.
• President Donald Trump got a lot of coverage when he said he wouldn’t stop acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker from reining in special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe. This was news?
• When asked how he makes decisions, President Donald Trump said, “I don’t think about it.” Yes, it’s its own punchline.
• Upstate Republicans trying to stop state Sen. John Flanagan from remaining as their leader failed, a good warmup for the new legislative session in January when their diminished ranks won’t be able to stop anything.

Michael Dobie

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Daily Point

Pelosi’s rocky path to power

The road to new leadership in the House of Representatives may lead through the Empire State.

Sixteen Democratic members of Congress signed an open letter on Monday vowing not to vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker. Four were New Yorkers: Long Island’s Kathleen Rice and Brian Higgins of Buffalo, plus newcomers Max Rose, representing Staten Island and part of Brooklyn, and Anthony Brindisi of Utica, who is claiming victory in a tight race over Rep. Claudia Tenney.

All four have been anti-Pelosi for a while. Rice had already put herself in the line of fire when she backed Tim Ryan’s bid to unseat Pelosi after the 2016 elections.

Higgins went public with his dissent in June.

It’s also no surprise that Rose and Brindisi are along for the rebellion. Both fought tough races against GOP incumbents in which they had to distinguish themselves from the Democratic establishment. Rose did so by bashing Pelosi, as well as everyone’s favorite punching bag, Mayor Bill de Blasio.

In early TV ads, Brindisi promised not to support Pelosi and pointed to his past bipartisan efforts.

Will any other New Yorkers join the revolt? Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, one of biggest stars in the freshman class, is keeping her distance from the internecine squabble. Ocasio-Cortez, who represents parts of Queens and the Bronx, joined activists outside Pelosi’s office last week to call for new climate policies. But the newcomer, who has taken a lot of bold positions and is a member of Vanity Fair’s 2018 “new establishment” class, hasn’t directly called for new leadership. In a recent (unarchived) Instagram Live video, she reportedly said that at this point Pelosi “is the most progressive candidate.”

She added, “All of the rebellion for the speakership are challenges to her right, and so I think it’s important to communicate that.”

Mark Chiusano