County Legislator Vedat Gashi
By Dan Murphy
Westchester County now has two members of Congress representing them, now that the new district lines have been established after much confusion. The 16th District, currently represented by Rep. Jamaal Bowman, and the 17th District currently represented by Rep. Mondaire Jones.
Let us focus on the 16th District, which now includes all of lower to mid-Westchester, including Yonkers, Mt. Vernon, White Plains, all of the sound shore communites, Greenburgh, Harrison, Eastchester, Scarsdale and Port Chester.
County Legislator Vedat Gashi announced his candidacy earlier this year, to challenge Bowman. Gashi, who lives in Yorktown and represents northern Westchester on the county board, no longer resides in the district, but is still running.
“After reviewing the final maps with my family and team, I’m even more excited about the campaign to win the primary election for New York’s 16th Congressional District on August 23. The district lines have changed, but my reason for running has not. We’re focused on bringing our country together to deliver actual progress for everyday New Yorkers. During the redistricting process I’ve met with a wide variety of supporters, and we’ve picked up a number of important endorsements which will be announced soon.
“As of date we’ve raised over $600,000, maintained a cash-on-hand advantage against the competition and are on track for an even stronger fund-raising total by the end of this quarter. Meanwhile, I’ve actively continued serving my constituents across Westchester as county legislator by lowering taxes, improving infrastructure, securing gasoline tax relief, supporting the Reproductive Health Care Facilities Access Act, approving a measure to combat gender and race-based workplace pay inequality and combating gun violence by requiring warning labels to be posted wherever firearms are sold. My campaign is about ensuring that everyone has a shot at the American dream. My family came to the United States as refugees, and I grew up in the Bronx before moving to Westchester to raise my family.
“This country gave me a chance, so I will fight to protect working families and expand the middle class. This district deserves a representative who supports President Biden’s agenda, will put progress before posturing and will work hard to get things done. I look forward to continuing my dialogue with residents of the district to learn more about their concerns and share my vision of how we can strengthen our country and create a fairer nation that works for everyone,” said Gashi, in a statement on May 24.
Once the new district lines were announced, County Legisaltor Catherine Parker, from Rye, announced her campaign to challenge Bowman in a democratic primary. Parker told Black Westchester that her primary issue is the environment and climate change.
“I have always been passionate about our environment; it was one of my biggest motivators for getting into government. I ran for my local City Council to help make sure my kids had a safe environment to grow up in and got hooked on the opportunity for solutions on a more regional level in the County. Now, with so many critical issues of the environment, safety, health and affordability on the debate stage in Washington, I am eager to help move our federal government in the practical progressive direction needed to address these challenges,”
Parker criticized Congressman Bowman for his vote against the infrastructure bill. “The Congressman is an educator. He understands that the purpose of government is to do the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people but I believe he failed at that when he voted against funding a litany of projects that will make a difference in the not-so-distant future.”
Some of the confusion among Westchester democrats is that two county legisaltors are now challenging an incumbent democrat member of Congress. “Catherine is ambitious and is looking to move up,” said a democratic party leader in the district.” She has run for Congress before and can say that she lives in the district and as a woman, may be a more appealing candidate. But if both Parker and Gashi stays in then Bowman wins, and even if one of them gets out, Bowman will probably still win.”
Right now republicans are looking for a candidate in the new NY-!6. Somers councilman William Faulkner was the GOP candidate but no longer lives in the district.
