The latest on the race for NY-10

Before I get to anything else: early voting starts today Saturday, August 13, and runs through next Sunday, the 21st. The times are different every day. See them here and find your poll site here.

On the ballot at this point for the 10th Congressional District are:
Bill de Blasio (dropped out but on ballot still)
Quanda Francis
Peter Gleason
Dan Goldman
Elizabeth Holtzman (former congresswoman)
Mondaire Jones (Rockland congressman)
Jimmy Li
Maud Maron
Yuh-Line Niou (Fidi assemblywoman)
Carlina Rivera(D2 city councilwoman)
Brian Robinson
Jo Anne Simon (BK assemblywoman)
Yan Xiong

Only the ones linked took me up on my offer to answer a Q&A and chat with me for a short interview, which tells you something about their interest in Tribeca as a constituency, IMO, and a voting base. (Gleason and Li had no contact info on websites and no LinkedIn page.) And the ones in bold were polling high enough to be invited to the NY1/WNYC debate this week, which covered immigration policy (8:41), the BQE (30 min), whether Biden and Nancy Pelosi should run again, how to deal with Donald Trump (45 min and beyond). You can watch the debate here.

THE DEBATE

  • Goldman was criticized for his wealth (From Bloomberg: “Financial disclosure forms shared by his campaign with Bloomberg show the extent of his wealth. He has a net worth of between $64 million and $253 million from over 1,700 assets, which would likely place him among the top 20 wealthiest members of Congress if he were to be elected in November” and he recently loaned his own campaign $1 million.)
  • Rivera was criticized for her support of the East River resiliency plan, which will shut down East River Park for a couple years
  • Jones was of course accused of being a carpetbagger, since he is the congressman for Rockland County and only moved into the district to run for this seat
  • Holtzman made references to the successful impeachment of Richard Nixon, her writing of the Refugee Act with Ted Kennedy, and the promotion of the ERA
  • None of them would want an endorsement from Bill de Blasio
  • All of them would support a ban on congressional stock trading
  • All of them support the legalization of marijuana federally
  • All but Niou own a car, and all but Niou support the reinstated alternate side parking regs
  • The candidates who were not in office at the time were targeted for being out of the district during the first months of the pandemic. Simon, Niou and Rivera were also asked if their state experience could translate to a federal platform.

The final hour was a cross-examination round, where candidates could ask each other questions. Goldman was targeted by Jones and Holtzman for having investments in gun manufacturers and Fox News (1:03); Simon asked Holzman about the Supreme Court, and Holtzman said two of them should be investigated by Congress right now (Goldman noted he isn’t the only one with those same investments). Rivera used her question to challenge Jones to a one-on-one hoops contest (odd, but ok). Goldman asked Simon how she would support small businesses (she said shop local).

Holtzman noted that during the lighting round, where the questions got pretty light, that an hour and a half in, they had not discussed a single women’s issue.

THE ENDORSEMENTS
Of course all the candidates are waiting for The Times to issue an endorsement, and City&State has a thorough list if you want to see where all the unions have lined up.

  • Holtzman has the Daily News and Gloria Steinem
  • Jones has Nancy Pelosi, Corey Booker and the Congressional Black Caucus PAC
  • Niou has Jumaane Williams and a slew of citywide political orgs
  • Simon has the Downtown Independent Democrats and Deborah Glick
  • Rivera has a slew of unions as well as Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez
 

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