By Dan Murphy
More than 2/3 of Westchester County democrats will have the chance to go to the polls on June 26 and elect their representative in Congress. Four democrats are on the ballot in the democratic primary for the House of Representatives in the 16th District, which includes Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, Pelham, Eastchester, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck, Rye, Scarsdale, Hastings, and the Bronx.
Congressman Eliot Engel is seeking re-election to a 16th term. Three democrats, Derickson Lawrence, Johnathan Lewis, and Joyce Briscoe have all collected enough signatures to appear on the ballot and challenge Engel.
The contest is a referendum on Engel’s representation of Westchester and the Bronx in Washington. Derickson Lawrence has in our view, presented the most clear and cogent alternative to Engel during this race, which has not drawn the attention that Congressional races used to demand in years past.
The reasons for that are in the eye of the beholder; perhaps, most of the news we now see on TV about President Donald Trump, and the opposition to his Presidency, is sucking all the air out of any other news or campaigns. Or maybe the recent spring special election in which democrat Shelley Mayer defeated republican Julie Killian tapped out the attention span of the Westchester voter.
But that is not reason enough for the democratic voters in the district to consider all four candidates and cast a vote on June 26. Federal primaries for office are held in June and not the usual September time for primaries, further confusing the voters, in our view.
Lawrence ran two years ago against Engel, was knocked off the democratic ballot, but ran in November 2016 and got 5% of the vote. This time around Lawrence has continued to spread his message across the district that voters are not being properly represented by Engel in Washington.
Lawrence has proposed legalizing marijuana, criminal justice reform and getting guns off the streets, all which can be found at his website, dericksonkforcongress.com
Jonathan Lewis is making his first run for public office and for Congress. His campaign has spent almost half a million dollars on the race to date, most of it on high priced consultants and a fortune in mailings and online advertising.
Lewis’s major set of issues can be found in a set of videos, which can be found on his website, jonathanlewisforcongress.com, titled “A Citizen’s Guide for Fixing our Broken Democracy.” The issues highlighted in the four videos, affordable health, care, money in politics, prescription drugs and term limits, are all relevant to the voters in the district.
Lewis, like Lawrence, also believes that Engel has not properly represented the Westchester democratic voter, and that he could be a more powerful voice in Washington to speak out against Trump and his policies. But if Lewis cannot attract the attention of the Westchester voter, or the media, during this campaign, then how can he be perceived to deliver a louder message than Engel.
Lewis has chosen to take a different political path during this campaign than his opponents. He has chosen to hire high priced consultants and online social media companies, spending more than $500,000, including a personal loan of $400,000
He has not chosen to take the more traditional route of reaching out to voters through the local media, and for that reason he has not been able to explain himself to the voters and why they should vote for him over Engel. We believe that Lewis is laying the groundwork for a future campaign, when, Rep. Engel decides to retire. But in our view, he has failed to connect with the people in the district in a meaningful way.
We just found out about a fourth candidate, Joyce Briscoe, last week, when we started seeing her palm cards around Westchester. Briscoe’s campaign failed to reach out at all to our newspapers, which is a critical mistake. We would have looked forward to presenting her views to the voter.
A deep dive into Eliot Engel’s recent record in Washington shows his to be a progressive voice against President Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, and the #1 most effective Democratic lawmaker in the U.S. House of Representatives according to the Center for Effective Lawmaking.
Some of the arguments lodged against Engel by his opponents don’t stand up to the facts. While it is true that Engel is the ranking member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and has a passion for international affairs, it is not true that he supports going to war.
In fact, Engel’s history in Congress includes seeking peace in Northern Ireland, speaking out against genocide in Serbia and Kosovo and calling for a two-state solution in the middle east. Westchester could also benefit from Engel’s seniority if the House of Representatives changes hands and democrats hold the majority.
We believe that Congressman Eliot Engel deserves re-election on June 26 and we endorse that result. But the choice is up to the democratic voters who cast their vote next Tuesday.
