By Dan Murphy
Many voters in Westchester need to appraise themselves of the new Congressional districts that cover the county, the new date for a primary for Westchester’s two different districts, and who is running in both parties.
Let us begin that education effort. Another good resource is the Westchester County League of Women Voters, lwvw.org.
For more than two decades, Westchester residents have had three different members of Congress representing different parts of the county. After the census results of 2020, Westchester now has two congressional districts, NY-16 and NY-17.
In NY-16, Congressman Jamaal Bowman is the incumbent. Rep. Bowman’s district now includes parts of the Bronx, Yonkers, Mt. Vernon and all of southern and mid-Westchester.
Rep. Bowman, a democrat, is being challenged in a democratic primary next month by County Legislator Vedat Gashi, County Legislator Catherine Parker, and Harrison resident Mark Jaffe.
The four democrats recently held a debate hosted by the Westchester league of women voters, which can be viewed at the following link:
Republicans have a candidate in NY-16, but most believe that he is a “placeholder,” with another canddiate to come after the primary. John Ciampoli is the name of the current candidate for the GOP in NY-16. Ciampoli, who has served as a longtime republican election law attorney, listed his address on Long Island on the candidate form. This was first reported by Delfim Heusler on Yonkersinsider.blogspot.com. Look for another Westchester republican to step forward and run in NY-16 next month.
The other Westchester congressional district is in NY-17, which includes Rockland County, Northern Westchester County and Putnam County. The current congressman in NY-17 is Rep. Mondaire Jones.
Here is where it gets confusing. Rep. Jones was encouraged by National democrats not to run for re-election in his district. Instead Jones is running for Congress in New York City, in a crowded democratic field in NY-10.
The reason that Jones was urged not to run in NY-17 was because that Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney wanted to run in 17.
Rep. Maloney is the powerful Chair of the Demoratic Congressional Campaign Committee and is close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, so the rumor is that Pelosi told Jones to run in NYC so that Maloney can run in NY-17.
Maloney currently represents NY-18 which now runs further north into the Hudson Valley. He currently lives in Putnam County, in the 17th District.
Challenging Rep. Maloney in a democratic primary in NY-17 is State Senator Alessandra Biaggi. Biaggi lives in Pelham, which is not in NY-17, but she is running as the progressive alternative to Maloney in the democratic primary.
Recent polling shows Maloney with a large lead over Biaggi in the upcoming primary Aug. 23. But recent polling also shows that republicans stand a good chance at winning NY-17 and picking up a seat in the House.
Two republicans are facing off in a republican primary Aug. 23 in NY-17. They are Assemblyman Mike Lawler, who represents Rockland County, and Somers Councilman Bill Faulkner.
There are two debates scheduled for the republican and democratic primaries in NY-17, hosted by the LWV.
The republican debate will be held on July 28, and the democratic debate will be held on August 1. If you miss either debate, the LWV will hopefully post them on Youtube.com in the days after.
