After redistricting reshuffled congressional districts in one of the most liberal states in the country, two incumbent Democrats were defeated in the state’s primary election for the United States House of Representatives.
N.Y. (A.P.) Due to redistricting, two incumbents in New York’s congressional District were defeated in Tuesday’s controversial Democratic primaries. New York is one of the most liberal states in the country.
While Rep. Carolyn Maloney, the chair of a powerful House committee and a 15-term incumbent, lost to Rep. Jerry Nadler, a longtime colleague, Rep. Mondaire Jones, a progressive and one of the first openly gay Black members of Congress, failed to Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor. The latter served as counsel to House Democrats in the first impeachment inquiry against Donald Trump.
Also, in New York, the incumbent chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Sean Patrick Maloney, was challenged in the Democratic primary but ultimately prevailed over a progressive opponent. In a special election, Democrats could maintain control of a swing district, at least for the time being.
There was a close race between an entrenched Republican in Florida and a far-right provocateur, but the incumbent prevailed. Meanwhile, Republican firebrand U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz won his primary despite being the subject of a federal investigation.
Nadler and Carolyn Maloney, who have represented the Upper West Side and Upper East Side of Manhattan for 30 years, are chairs of influential committees. After redistricting merged many of their historic congressional districts, they found themselves in the same contest.
Maloney, 76, and Nadler, 75, got into a heated fight for New York’s 12th District. Nadler claims that once they decided to run against each other, they stopped talking and that Maloney’s campaign became vicious, calling into doubt Nadler’s mental competence.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer backed Nadler for speaker, and Nadler has boasted about his role overseeing Trump’s impeachments as chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Maloney, who chairs the influential House Oversight Committee, has promoted herself as a female advocate while boasting about her role as a check on the former president.
Lawyer Suraj Patel, age 38, ran against them both because the country needed a fresh face in Washington.
A congressional seat covering southern Manhattan (including Wall Street) and Brooklyn was an unusual open battle in one of the country’s most liberal and essential districts since Nadler and Maloney were competing for a district directly to the north.
Goldman, a Democrat who rose to prominence as the lead counsel for the House Democrats during Trump’s first impeachment hearing, prevailed in a crowded primary for New York’s 10th District, which attracted a slew of progressive candidates. Goldman’s campaign platform centred on restoring the Constitution’s original intent to protect civil liberties and the rule of law. Jones, a congressman from the New York City suburbs who relocated there to run and came in third in the primary, was one of the candidates.
HEAD OF HOUSE DEMOCRATS’ CAMPAIGN WINs PRIMARY
New York’s first openly homosexual congressman, Sean Patrick Maloney, was unopposed in the primary by state senator Alessandra Biaggi in the new 17th District, which includes the picturesque villages of the historic Hudson River Valley.
During his campaign, Maloney, who supported former President Bill Clinton, ran on the Democratic Party’s recent legislative victories in Congress and warned that the seat might slip to the Republicans in November if the Democratic nominee was too liberal.
Biaggi is the granddaughter of former congressman Mario Biaggi of the Bronx and is a progressive endorsed by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She aimed to make Maloney look like an old-fashioned establishment member.
A CONTROVERSIAL CANDIDATE IS DEFEATED BY THE CHAIRMAN OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IN THE ST
Nick Langworthy, the Republican Party chair in New York, won the western New York primary against the divisive Buffalo businessman Carl Paladino.
Paladino, an unsuccessful gubernatorial candidate in 2010, has a lengthy history of aggressive and insulting remarks, including recent comments in which he admired Adolf Hitler and spread conspiracy theories about mass murders.
To replace Republican Rep. Chris Jacobs, who opted not to run for reelection after suffering outrage from his party for supporting an assault weapons prohibition in the wake of the racist mass massacre in his hometown of Buffalo in May, Langworthy and Paladino engaged in a contentious primary.
