By Dan Murphy
Westchester’s third congressmember, U.S. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who represents the northern Westchester towns of Yorktown, Somers, Bedford, North Salem and South Salem recently made news when he endorsed former Congressman Beto O’Rourke for president.
“When we got elected to Congress together, Beto and I used to run early in the morning out on the mall in Washington,” said Maloney. “Through many long conversations, and during our years together in the House, I grew to know and love him and his family. He has a heart the size of Texas, real experience, and a vision of that strong, united and youthful America that once led the world – and that can again motivate and inspire millions. That’s why I’m proud to endorse him.”
While Maloney and O’Rourke became friends together in the House and last year, O’Rourke endorsed Maloney in his failed bid to become New York State Attorney General. Maloney’s endorsement is also important for other reasons.
First, Maloney did not feel the need to wait on his endorsement for O’Rourke out of deference to U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, from New York, who is also running for president. Gillibrand has not received one endorsement from any member of Congress from her home state, and her campaign for president appears to be already on life support. Her fierce support of the #MeToo movement, and her honest criticism of former President Bill Clinton, who Gillibrand said “should have resigned” when he was president in the 1990s during the Monika Lewinsky scandal, also has not helped her with New York democrats.
“I’m not supporting her (Gillibrand) because I feel, at this point, I feel that we have to win Ohio and Pennsylvania and Michigan and Wisconsin,” said Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.
Maloney is also said to be close to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and Maloney’s endorsement of O’Rourke is being viewed as another sign that Cuomo won’t run for president. Others were curious as to why Maloney wouldn’t wait for Cuomo or New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to make their final decision whether to run for president.
“It’s remarkable that they’re endorsing at all given that Bill de Blasio and Andrew Cuomo still might jump into the race,” said democratic consultant Zak Petkanas. “Most of the New York delegation is waiting until the field is set, since other New Yorkers may pull the trigger.”
Other democratic advisors see Maloney’s decision as more of a choice, and hope, toward a special candidate who might be able to bring the democratic party together. “I think they probably see Beto O’Rourke being able to build bridges across generational and ideological lines that they think will be helpful to Democrats in swing areas like theirs, as well as the base,” said Bruce Gyory.
Consultant Hank Sheinkopf said: “You need something that has some energy. Beto O’Rourke represents energy in a Democratic Party that is breaking up into pieces that will hopefully unite during the November general election.”
Still, other democrats believe that both Beto and Maloney represent a moderate wing of the democratic party that no longer has a majority of support within the party.
“The problem I see for O’Rourke is that these endorsements and the tendency behind them makes him look – maybe accurately – like the presidential candidate of Democratic ‘centrists’ – a very thin constituency in Democratic politics at the moment,” said NTKnetwork.com. “This may sound like I’m saying the energy of the party is on the left and you’re out of luck if you’re playing to a constituency on the right-center. Not exactly.
“I think the power and pull of high-profile left-wing members of Congress like Ocasio-Cortez and others are greatly exaggerated by their media profiles. What I’m really quite certain about is that the Democratic nominee is not going to be the factional candidate of Democratic centrists. And the way the roll out played O’Rourke made a good start toward becoming that guy.” Maloney issued his statement on Twitter but gave very few interviews on the subject of Beto for president. He did appear on Morning Joe recently on MSNBC, and renewed his support for Beto for President.
