Democrats trying to unseat each other II

[lpetrich]

Florida's polls closed at 6 pm EDT, and New York's will close at 9 pm EDT. So I've gotten some Florida results.

It looks like Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick is beating Dale Holness again. With 62% counted, SC has 65.5%, DH 28.7%, and another candidate 5.8%. She barely beat him in last year's special-election primary.

 

[lpetrich]

In FL-10, the district vacated by Val Demings when she decided to run for the Senate, progressive activist Maxwell Alejandro Frost has won, with 34.0% of the vote. The others are at 25.0%, 15.5%, 9.7%, 6.9%, 2.4%, 2.2%, 1.9%, 1.3%, 1.1%

At >95% counted in FL-20, SCMC's victory is solid, with the fractions not changing much.

In FL-26 (Miami westward to the peninsula west coast), Christine Olivo was uncontested, though the district is R+14.

As I write this, the New York results are coming in.

 

[lpetrich]

It looks like Dan Goldman is winning in NY-10 because the Left split its vote.

Ryan Grim on Twitter: "Now that the Times is close to jamming through their man Dan Goldman, a billionaire who spent millions of his inheritance to claim 20-some percent of the vote in NY10, they can return to penning editorials about saving democracy from oligarchs and minority rule" / Twitter

Álex on Twitter: "@ryangrim can we talk about the fact that is the. #NY10 progressive candidates played intelligent politics and all dropped out and picked 1. Whoever it was yuhline, carlina, mondaire they would have won? They refused to play intelligent politics and deserve to lose because of that" / Twitter

I agree about that vote splitting.

As an aside, that Emerson poll found that voters split by race, with white ones supporting Dan Goldman, black ones supporting Mondaire Jones, Hispanic ones endorsing Carlina Rivera, and Asian ones endorsing Yuh-Line Niou.

Ryan Grim on Twitter: "Yes but also the very late timing of the NYT endorsement made that basically impossible. Either they knew that and did it deliberately so their little Levi oligarch-lite wouldn’t need even close to a majority, or they just didn’t care." / Twitter

Scruffy-looking goat herder on Twitter: "@ryangrim Absurd that there isn’t a runoff or ranked choice going on here. No one should be taking the nomination with just a straight 20%" / Twitter

Álex on Twitter: "@ryangrim they def didn't care it became a performative activist campaign. They believe in moral victories over real victories. So this is what they deserve. For god sakes we saw this with Biden when everyone dropped out for him. Its intelligent politics" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Ryan Grim on Twitter: "The Levi Strauss heir is leading in early returns in #NY10, it’s so nice when good things happen to people who’ve fought so hard to get where they are.
Big congrats to the Sulzbergers and the NYT editorial page." / Twitter

Ryan Grim on Twitter: "The Times waiting so long to make their endorsement prevented this or any other consolidation from happening (link)" / Twitter

The American Prospect on Twitter: "If self-funding Levi-Strauss heir Dan Goldman benefiting from a bitterly split primary field in NY-10 and wins tonight, Yuh-Line Niou could opt for running on the Working Family's Party ticket to challenge him in the general.
From @alex_sammon: (link)" / Twitter
noting
Could Yuh-Line Niou Run on the WFP Line? - The American Prospect - "A progressive split in New York’s deep-blue Tenth District could help self-funding moderate Dan Goldman win the primary. But the Working Families Party could run their own general-election challenger."

A sore-loser campaign, like Byron Brown vs. India Walton.

The race has featured a notable lack of consolidation, with not a single of the mentioned candidates willing to drop out and endorse an ideological ally. A press conference on Friday was expected to feature Holtzman dropping out and endorsing Rivera, but ended up just being a mutual lovefest with vague statements about the need to elect a woman.

New York Times Faces Backlash Over Dan Goldman Endorsement Debacle - The American Prospect - "There are ties between the families of Goldman and Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger, who took an interest in the endorsement."

The result of that quagmire is that Goldman, the most conservative option of the front-runners, is now the expected victor. He has leaned on his $250 million personal fortune ($4 million of which has been spent on his race so far) and powerful, dubiously invoked connections to put himself in the pole position. Goldman, who opposes court reform, student debt cancellation, and Medicare for All, and even sports a wobbly record on abortion, would be a disaster for progressives in a district Joe Biden carried by over 50 points.

 

[lpetrich]

On Maxwell Frost's win in Florida:
Dave Wasserman on Twitter: "I've seen enough: Bernie Sanders-endorsed Maxwell Frost (D) wins the #FL10 Dem primary, defeating state Sen. Randolph Bracy (D) and former Reps. Alan Grayson (D) and Corrine Brown (D). @CookPolitical November rating: Solid D." / Twitter


It looks like Melanie D'Arrigo is placing fourth in NY-03, former incumbent Max Rose is beating Brittany Ramos DeBarros in NY-11, Dan Goldman is winning by a hair in NY-10, Jerry Nadler is beating Carolyn Maloney and Suraj Patel in NY-12, Jamaal Bowman is beating his challengers by a sizable margin in NY-16, and Alessandra Biaggi is losing by a sizable margin to incumbent Sean Patrick Maloney in NY-17.

In NY-14, AOC had no Democratic challengers, but of the Republicans, MTG-ish Tina Forte beat a more traditional sort of conservative, Desi Cuellar, 67.9% - 32.1%.

In NY State Senate district 59, progressive Kristen Gonzalez beat more centrist Elizabeth Crowley 58.1% - 32.5%. The others were 6.5%, 1.6%, 1.1%, with the last two having unofficially withdrawn. There was some drama llama in Sam Seder's Majority Report about one of the dropouts: Nomiki Konst.

 

[lpetrich]

So Elizabeth Crowley joined cousin Joe Crowley by being beaten by someone more progressive.

The NY and FL counts seem close to complete, so I'll give their more pertinent results. Incumbents are starred.

FL-20: Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick* 65.6%, Dale Holness 28.6%, others 5.8%

SC beat DH by 5 votes in last year's primary, but she won much bigger this time, by nearly 27,000 votes out of some 72,000 votes.

NY-03: Robert Zimmerman 35.8%, Jon Kaiman 26.0%, Joshua Lafazan 20.0%, Melanie D’Arrigo 15.8%, others 2.5%

A lot of vote splitting.

NY-10: Dan Goldman 25.8%, Yuh-Line Niou 23.7%, Mondaire Jones 18.2%, Carlina Rivera 17.0%, Jo Anne Simon 6.2%, Elizabeth Holtzman 4.4%, Jimmy Li 1.2%, Yan Xiong 1.1%, Maud Maron 0.9%, Bill de Blasio 0.7%, Brian Robinson 0.5%, Peter Gleason 0.2%, Quanda Francis 0.2%

A vote-splitting disaster.

NY-11: Max Rose 75.0%, Brittany Ramos DeBarros 20.8%, others 4.2%

Max Rose was first elected to this mostly-Staten-Island district in 2018, defeating a Republican. He was defeated in 2020 by another Republican, Nicole Malliotakis. She won her primary this year, and the two are doing a rematch.

NY-12: Jerrold Nadler* 55.4%, Carolyn Maloney* 24.4%, Suraj Patel 19.2%, others 1.0%

Pretty much in agreement with Emerson's polls.

NY-16: Jamaal Bowman* 57.1%, Vedat Gashi 23.1%, others 18.0%, 1.8%

While JB did not get a large majority, he was nevertheless well ahead of his opponents because of their vote splitting. VG was supported by Eliot Engel, whom JB unseated in 2020, and Nita Lowey, who retired from NY-17 in 2020.

NY-17: Sean Patrick Maloney* 66.7%, Alessandra Biaggi 33.3%

SPM is the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and he decided on there rather than NY-18, because it would be safer for him. Mondaire Jones then fled to NY-10.

 

[lpetrich]

I'll compare the NY-10 list to an earlier list:

• Both (11): Dan Goldman, Yuh-Line Niou, Mondaire Jones, Carlina Rivera, Jo Anne Simon, Elizabeth Holtzman, Jimmy Jiang Li, Yan Xiong, Maud Maron, Bill de Blasio, Brian Robinson
• Final (2): Peter Gleason, Quanda Francis
• Earlier (6): Patrick Dooley, John Herron, Brad Hoylman, Elizabeth Kim, Ian Medina, David Yassky

So we have three elections with a lot of vote splitting: NY-03, NY-10, NY-16

That's a difficulty with first-past-the-post or plurality voting: vote for one and the winner is whoever gets the most votes.

A simple solution is runoff elections, often called a two-round system. The top two candidates from an election move on to a second election.

One can go further and revise the electoral system, like having approval voting (one can vote for more than one candidate) or ranked choice voting (one ranks the candidates by preference). The latter system is usually counted in instant-runoff fashion, with the lowest-ranking of the top preferences being dropped and the ballots then recounted as if that candidate was absent. The recounts continue until one candidate has a majority.

 

[lpetrich]

I think that NY-10 and NY-16 may cause pressure from both the Left and the Right to support reforms like ranked-choice voting, approval voting, or runoffs. The Left's vote was split in NY-10, and the Right's vote may have been split in NY-16. If it wasn't split in NY-16, then Jamaal Bowman might have had a victory margin as narrow as Ilhan Omar's.

Ryan Grim on Twitter: "It didn’t get much attention but interesting that @JamaalBowmanNY blew out a credible primary challenger by nearly 30 points.
Gashi attacked him for being a Squad member who undermined Biden and voters in that mostly suburban district soundly rejected the argument" / Twitter


Written a little before the election: The Gambit That (Probably) Failed about Mondaire Jones's move to NY-10 after Sean Patrick Maloney moved into the new NY-17.

Jones’ gambit was simple: he had no rationale for moving to Brooklyn other than to continue a political career, but it wouldn’t matter. He was popular, with a large social media following, and he had threaded a line between the Squad left—he backed Medicare for All—and the establishment middle because he curried favor with Nancy Pelosi. Jones, people told me, was sure he’d have the support of the Working Families Party, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Times editorial board, and perhaps Nydia Velázquez. Other local pols would follow because he had already banked several million. He could run TV ads all summer. If reporters wanted to ask pesky questions about how he moved far outside of his district, he could avoid them altogether. He was a sitting congressman, and a rose garden strategy didn’t seem like the worst idea. If pressed, he could say something about how he was gay and he was excited to represent Greenwich Village and Stonewall. Sure, it was a line maybe 30 years too stale—gay men live all over New York City now, and have for some time—but it sounded nice.

Jones, a one-term congressman, appeared to make the mistake of assuming he was better known in New York City than he really was—and that he could, with TV money, make up the difference.

He wasn't as appreciated as much as he was expected to be, it seems.

 

[lpetrich]

The Humanist Report on Twitter: "Yuh-Line Niou ..." / Twitter

Yuh-Line Niou (a strong progressive) barely lost to Dan Goldman in NY10, a race Mondaire Jones was also running in after Sean Maloney decided to run in Jones' original district.

Now Mondaire Jones is ousted from congress and a strong progressive like Yuh-Line Niou lost.

Not to mention Marie Newman (another incumbent progressive, although flawed) also lost her primary earlier this year. Not good.

But on the plus side,
Aadi on Twitter: "@HumanistReport Biggest wins have been Summer Lee, Greg Casar, Delia Ramirez, JMS, Chris Deluzio, and Maxwell Frost.
Becca Balint and Jill Tokuda also kept their seats in progressive hands" / Twitter
JMS = Jamie McLeod-Skinner

Jill Tokuda is in HI-02, the Hawaii seat that Tulsi Gabbard and Kai Kahele vacated to run for other offices.

Ryan Grim on Twitter: ".@MondaireJones ..." / Twitter

.@MondaireJones technically holds the WFP ballot line and could run in the general against Goldman, though WFP endorsed @yuhline, making that hard-to-impossible

Jones tells me he will *not* run in the general on the WFP line, which leaves it clear for Niou if she wants it.

He holds it as a complicated result of the redistricting and district-switching and his prior WFP endorsement, the details of which I’d mangle if I tried to explain — and it doesn’t matter now anyway

Niou would be facing a mountain of cash — Goldman has a bottomless ability to fund his campaign. And AIPAC has already spent big against her, going negative. But money only goes so far.

It got responses like

Chuck Ward on Twitter: "@ryangrim @MondaireJones @yuhline NY elections show why we need ranked choice voting" / Twitter
then
TheOmniZaddy 🏗 on Twitter: "@ChuckWardTweets @ryangrim @MondaireJones @yuhline NY elections show why we need proportional representation, so that candidates and parties run in the full general election and can distinguish themselves that way, rather than having to rely on infiltrating low-turnout party primaries that serve as the de facto general" / Twitter

 

[lpetrich]

Ryan Grim on Twitter: "“We are proud to have played a role,” but not so proud that we would reveal the source of the super PAC funding before the polls closed" / Twitter
noting
Daniel Marans on Twitter: ".@UnitedDemocProj, the AIPAC super PAC, reveals that it funded New York Progressive, the super PAC that spent $395k attacking Yuh-Line. (link)" / Twitter

Yet another successful AIPAC purchase, though it was more Dan Goldman buying a seat for himself.

 

[lpetrich]

Checking on Brand New Congress (@BrandNew535) / Twitter and Justice Democrats (@justicedems) / Twitter they celebrated the victories of AOC and Jamaal Bowman, and BNC also congratulated Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick for winning and Brittany Ramos DeBarros for trying.

Brittany Ramos DeBarros on Twitter: "My friends, family, and community, I know we have been holding our breath to hear a result and unfortunately the outcome isn’t what we wanted. I just called Max Rose to congratulate him on the win. (pic link)" / Twitter

Melanie D'Arrigo for NY03 on Twitter: "While we didn’t get the results we had hoped for, I am immensely proud of this campaign, our team and our supporters. Together, we re-enfranchised voters, educated on policy and gave people a vision for a future worth fighting for.
Thank you to everyone who fought alongside us. (pix link)" / Twitter

Alessandra Biaggi on Twitter: "Today I’m feeling immense gratitude. ..." / Twitter

Today I’m feeling immense gratitude. In just 90 days, we built a people-powered campaign that fought:

To end big money polluting our politics
To elevate the grassroots over the wallets of special interests
For a gov't that delivers for working people, not corporate donors.

Dark money super PACs spent nearly $1 million against us because when we’re brave enough to tell the truth about systems that need to change, the people whose power depends on those systems feel threatened.

The PBA hates me because I come from a law enforcement family – my grandfather was one of the most decorated police officers in NYPD history. And that makes me a credible messenger for police reform and accountability.

I ran this longshot race to make the Democratic Party better. That is transformational work, and it takes time and sustained conviction.

We *will* see the day that the Democratic Party once again puts working people and the middle class first. That is what Americans deserve, and it’s what will win general elections.

We would be a better party if more Democratic leaders took personal career risk, instead of always protecting their own existing power.

While it isn’t fun to lose a race, I will always take a stand for what’s right, rather than get complacent with my power.

I’ve failed a lot more often than I’ve won in my life, and it’s always been the failures that have fueled the future wins.

But now – this contest is over, and we must prevent a Republican majority in the House. That includes defending #NY17 with everything we’ve got. After some much needed rest, you will see me on the frontlines working to keep this district in Democratic hands.

From the bottom of my heart – thank you so much to every single supporter that joined us in the fight for a more equitable future.

It is our relentlessness that will make that possible.

She lost to Sean Patrick Maloney, and she seems like she will support him against the Republican in the race.

 

[Derec]

So Elizabeth Crowley joined cousin Joe Crowley by being beaten by someone more progressive.

What do the socialists have against that family?

NY-10: Dan Goldman 25.8%, Yuh-Line Niou 23.7%, Mondaire Jones 18.2%, Carlina Rivera 17.0%, Jo Anne Simon 6.2%, Elizabeth Holtzman 4.4%, Jimmy Li 1.2%, Yan Xiong 1.1%, Maud Maron 0.9%, Bill de Blasio 0.7%, Brian Robinson 0.5%, Peter Gleason 0.2%, Quanda Francis 0.2%
A vote-splitting disaster.

Not really a disaster as far as the outcome, as the extremist YLN was thwarted.
Still, it's kind of silly that you can be a nominee with less than 30% of the votes. NYC mayoral primary had the RCV system. Why not the congressional primaries?

While JB did not get a large majority, he was nevertheless well ahead of his opponents because of their vote splitting. VG was supported by Eliot Engel, whom JB unseated in 2020, and Nita Lowey, who retired from NY-17 in 2020.

Mondaire Jones should have ran here, against the police defunder. He might have won. Instead he carpetbagged his way all the way to a defeat in Downtown/Brooklyn.

SPM is the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, and he decided on there rather than NY-18, because it would be safer for him. Mondaire Jones then fled to NY-10.

He ran in the 17th because he lives there. Why should he have to run in a different district just because it happens to share the number of an old district. The old and new districts are very different. Nobody is beholden to hold fast to district numbers just to make somebody else's election easier.

 

[lpetrich]

So Elizabeth Crowley joined cousin Joe Crowley by being beaten by someone more progressive.

What do the socialists have against that family?

I don't see why such a grudge would be necessary for them to run against Crowley family members.

Not really a disaster as far as the outcome, as the extremist YLN was thwarted.

What makes YLN an "extremist"?

Still, it's kind of silly that you can be a nominee with less than 30% of the votes. NYC mayoral primary had the RCV system. Why not the congressional primaries?

One would have to change New York State election law for that. But I agree that RCV and similar systems would avoid disasters like this one.

 

[lpetrich]

Brittany Ramos DeBarros on Twitter: "Today I voted for myself ..." / Twitter

Today I voted for myself for the United States House of Representatives in #NY11. It was an incredibly surreal feeling but what I was really voting for was our movement for justice and dignity for all. THREAD /1

I’m the daughter of a loving mother who worked full-time with a baby and ROTC requirements to pay her way through college and ensure I was taken care of. She taught me compassion, determination, and joy in the face of adversity and abuse. /2

I’m the biological daughter of a man raised and abused in orphanages in Puerto Rico because his family was too poor to care for him after his grandmother died. He lived a traumatic life on the streets and passed on so much of that pain to our family. But he taught me to fight. /3

I’m the daughter of a man who chose me like we chose him. He claimed as his own from day one. He pushed me and he showed what it means to love in action, always doing whatever it took to take care of us, picking up extra jobs and sacrificing when things were tight. /4

I’m the granddaughter of a woman who drank from “colored only” water fountains as a child and a man who was 19 serving in the Air Force when Ruby Bridges had to be escorted to a forcibly desegregated school by armed federal marshals. They paved the way. /5

I’m the wife of a man who has loved me so well for 12 years. He held me as I woke up screaming from nightmares after war. Stood by me as I risked prison to speak out against them. And has been there as I’ve laughed, cried, and worked on this campaign 551 days. /6

As I think about the recent Supreme Court rulings affirming Puerto Rico’s colony status, the stripping of my equal protections under the law and so much more - I know that I am completely ordinary and yet I am also my ancestors’ wildest dreams.

This movement will always be personal for me. We’re fighting for liberation from the 1% whose greed is so consuming they buy our politicians and don’t care if the rest of us live or die. This campaign is a love letter to us. We are the majority and we are so powerful together

Great that she has such a very supportive husband.

 

[Derec]

I don't see why such a grudge would be necessary for them to run against Crowley family members.

But it does help.

What makes YLN an "extremist"?

Green New Deal, abolishing ICE, supporting BDS ...

One would have to change New York State election law for that. But I agree that RCV and similar systems would avoid disasters like this one.

True.

 

[lpetrich]

What makes YLN an "extremist"?

Green New Deal, abolishing ICE, supporting BDS ...

There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in Fox News.

 

[lpetrich]

In NY-10, Jerrold Nadler 55.4%, Carolyn Maloney 24.4%, Suraj Patel 19.2%, Ashmi Sheth 1.0%
Both JN and CM started in Congress in 1993, nearly 30 years ago. JN is 75 years old and CM 76.

That's the last of the Thunderdome primaries: two incumbents in, one incumbent out.

United States Congress elections, 2022 - Ballotpedia

• GA-07 (D): Lucy McBath won, Carolyn Bourdeaux lost
• IL-06 (D): Sean Casten won, Marie Newman lost
• IL-13 (R): Rodney Davis won, Mary Miller lost
• MI-09 (D): Haley Stevens won, Andy Levin lost
• NY-12 (D): Jerry Nadler won, Carolyn Maloney lost

 

[lpetrich]

Samantha Max on Twitter: "Happy primary night (#2) NYC! ..." / Twitter

Happy primary night (#2) NYC! I’ll be spending the night w/ Rep. Maloney’s team. Follow along for dispatches! Also, if you’re a New Yorker who is registered to vote but didn’t hit the polls today, tell me why! My dm’s are open. (Photo of a v quiet polling site in my neighborhood)

Greetings from Maloney’s primary night party, where the health department gave the venue an A rating! Love to see it! How will the voters grade Rep. Maloney? To be determined. The hors d’oeuvres are coming out, and there is no other way to describe them besides adorable? Teeny tiny sliders, wontons, French Fries, Peking duck buns and the ittiest little lobster roll you ever did see.

The mood is upbeat in Maloney camp just minutes after the polls have closed and results about to start streaming in. Slightly outdated dance music is playing on the speakers (currently: Don't Stop the Music by Rihanna). Rep. isn't expected to arrive until later. Now, we wait.

Breaking news: there’s a dog! #pupsformaloney

The music is off and the news is back on as Maloney supporters wait for the results to come in. With 365 out of 400 districts reporting, Nadler is in the lead with 55% of the vote. About 27% for Maloney and 17% for Patel. “Keep the hope,” someone says. And just like that, @NY1 calls the race for Nadler. Looks of disappointment are filling the room. Sybil Shainwald is very upset that Maloney lost. “Carolyn is my favorite person,” she says. She and several others at the party are particularly upset that Sen. Schumer intervened in the race and endorsed Nadler. Shari Weiner is feeling “anger that the old boys’ club won.” She says women have been disenfranchised yet again in this race, with one of the most powerful female members of congress being ousted by a male colleague. “Listen, you don’t become the 3rd-most effective woman in congress by sitting on your derrière,” Maloney’s press sec says. “Don’t tell me Carolyn Maloney hasn’t done anything, because she’s done everything.” She notes the 2 Ave subway, credit card holders’ bill of rights, etc.

Maloney praises the NY women in politics who paved the way and criticizes the sexism and misogyny that she says still plays out in politics, including in this campaign.

That last one has video of some of her concession speech.

Samantha Max on Twitter: "Maloney praises the NY women in politics who paved the way and criticizes the sexism and misogyny that she says still plays out in politics, including in this campaign. (vid link)" / Twitter
Mentioning Shirley Chisholm and Bella Abzug and Geraldine Ferraro. Elizabeth Holtzman was also worth a mention, and she was running in this race at the age of 81, not much more than the two incumbents in it.

 

[lpetrich]

Rep. Jerry Nadler knocks off Carolyn Maloney in NY-12 battle of House Dems

... Maloney whined that she was the victim of “sexist systems and misogyny” as her supporters vented their wrath at her victorious opponent.

“I’m really sad that we no longer have a woman representing Manhattan in Congress,” Maloney told her teary-eyed boosters, later adding: “In Congress, it is that when women are at the table, great decisions get made.”

The longtime lawmaker also thanked great female New York leaders of the past like Shirley Chisholm and Geraldine Ferraro, who Maloney said “fought sexist systems and misogyny that continues today, as we know from my own campaign” — an obvious dig at Nadler.

The mood had been even uglier about an hour earlier, as a celebratory Nadler addressed his supporters on the Upper West Side. Maloney’s backers at her party in Chelsea booed and jeered the House Judiciary Committee chair’s televised speech, with some yelling, “Traitor!”

"In between, the two traded barbs over who was the more progressive as the prospect of missing out on another House term appeared to be more than either could bear."

They also argued over who deserves the credit for the Second Avenue Subway, whose first segment, in the Upper West Side, opened in 2017.

CM also said that JN was close to "senile".

 

[lpetrich]

Jerry Nadler beats Carolyn Maloney in NY House Democratic primary

Nadler and Maloney were both first elected in 1992 and have since risen to prominence in the House: Nadler chairs the Judiciary Committee, and Maloney chairs the Oversight Committee.

JN will likely stay on as the top Democrat in the House Judiciary Committee, either as its head or as its ranking member.

Maloney, 76, had sought to play up the gender dynamics in the race, noting that she’s the only woman representing Manhattan in Congress and suggesting that Nadler was benefiting from an “old boys’ network” in New York City.

A third candidate in the race was Suraj Patel, 38, a former staffer for President Barack Obama who ran on a platform of generational change against the two septuagenarians.

Nadler defeats Maloney in New York City primary - Roll Call

Maloney and her team were still campaigning aggressively on Monday, but she also held an event outside an entrance to the Second Avenue subway line on the Upper East Side, for which the long-delayed completion was a career highlight.

“I had a list of 10 things I wanted to accomplish. I've accomplished over 100, and I've had over 12 bill signings with presidents on important transformational legislation,” Maloney said.

She was flanked by representatives from unions for firefighters and letter carriers, both key constituencies, with Maloney having been among those leading the charge for a postal service overhaul law and for ongoing support for medical treatment and other expenses for 9/11 first responders. For years, Maloney wore an FDNY fire coat around Capitol Hill and in New York City, while pushing for full funding for laws like the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act.

She has one remaining thing on her to-do list: the Equal Rights Amendment.

“A federal Equal Rights Amendment would add an explicit guarantee of sex equality in the United States Constitution,” Maloney said. “A federal ERA would protect the right to health care, to abortion and the full range of reproductive health care. Already several courts have ruled in favor of abortion rights and Medicaid coverage of abortion based on state ERAs.”

She handed the issue over to Chuck Schumer.

Senate Leader Schumer, it's time that you show that you are a leader for women and not voting against us. As leader of the Senate, it is time for you to schedule and find the votes for the ERA since the House has already passed it and sent it to you,” Maloney said Monday.

Though CS endorsed Jerry Nadler, as did the New York Times.

As a Financial Services Committee member, Maloney sponsored legislation to create a bill of rights for credit card holders that was signed into law in 2009. In the 113th Congress, Maloney spearheaded the enactment of legislation to require higher education institutions to develop and communicate policies on dating violence, sexual assault, stalking and domestic violence.

Maloney has also worked on efforts to combat sexual assault and human trafficking. The former co-chair of the Women’s Caucus, Maloney donned a burka in her October 2001 House floor speech on women’s rights in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.

“The veil is so thick that it’s difficult to breathe. The little mesh opening for the eyes makes it extremely difficult to even cross the road,” she said at the time.

She was born in Greensboro NC, and she went on to become a teacher in NYC, then a NYC Board of Education administrator. She became a NY State legislature staffer in 1977, she was elected to the NYC Council in 1982, and she was elected to the US House in 1992.