Idoni Wins County Democratic Convention Without Opposition But Williams Still Running in June Primary
The Westchester Democratic convention on Feb. 10 did not have the intrigue anticipated, as incumbent Tim Idoni was nominated for re-election without any competition. Yonkers City Council person Shanae Williams did not have her name submited for consideration for County Clerk, but told Yonkers Times and all of her followers in a Facebook video that, “I’m still running for County Clerk and I’m taking my campaign directly to the voters. We are going to win the democratic primary in June.”
Williams had anticipated challenging Idoni at the convention, which was held online, but decided against it because she didn’t want to put district leaders “in an uncomfortable position.”
“I have support from democratic district leaders across Westchester, but some of them didn’t want to support me publicly at the convention, because they have government jobs or other connections to elected officials. I also knew that I was not going to win a majority of the democratic district leaders, but my campaign continues.”
Yonkers Assemblyman Nader Sayegh was ready to nominate Williams, and Yonkers democrat Nicole Benjamin was ready to 2nd her nomination.
Williams did want to briefly address the district leaders on the Zoom call, but was not allowed because her name was not placed in nomination. The Williams campaign, and her campaign manager Christine Peters, said that they were originally told that she would be allowed to speak.
“Shanae wanted to come and make her speech and wish Tim (Idoni) the best. But this points to the difficulty that party politics is for some of us and the mixed messages that we receive,” said Peters.
Williams gave her speech on Facebook, and she did acknowledge the work that Idoni has done for the people of Westchester in the County Clerks office, but also offered the new ideas and iniaitives that she has for the office.
“Over the past several weeks, I have had the opportunity to meet with local democratic committee to share my message. Thanks to all of those folks for their support. My opponent should be commended for his 16 years in the County Clerks office, but we can do so much more.
“I belileve that we can build a clerks office that is focused on equity, accessiblity and transparency. It’s time to bring the clerk’s office and ensure that resources are equity distributred county wide and bringing resources to marginalized communites. We should make sure that ID cards are available to anyone, regardless of their immigration status.
“This is a time for change in Westchester county. My goal was never to delcare victory by winning a vote of party leaders who have known my opponent for years. I am certainly not looking to put anyone in a difficult position. We will win the primary by bringing a progressive message to democrats in June. I am still running for Westchester County Clerk,” said Williams.
Idoni said after the convention, “I am humbled, grateful, and proud to have such strong support from my fellow Democrats. My entire career has been based around government, from being a city manager to my serving as mayor and now as County Clerk, I have always done my best to help the people I am tasked to represent.
“I am a true believer that good and effective government is an absolute necessity for people, particularly those forgotten or even held down by society. The government must always be a vehicle to raise everyone up.”
False reports online declared that Williams had withdrawn her name at the County Convention. That is fake news that we see too often, beware what you read online.
Williams is likely to secure enough signatures to get on the ballot, even more so now that Governor Cuomo has lowered the number of signatures required during COVID.
Democrats had mixed thoughts about the outcome of this race. One longtime democrat said, “County Clerk Idoni has the support of democrats across Westchester and he will win easily in June.”
Another, progressive democrat in northern Westchester said, “the last three democrats elected in a major race in the county were, Mimi Rocah, Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones. Anything is possible and don’t count out Shanae Williams.”
