Sensing a possible upset of unprecedented proportions, yesterdays’ kickoff of 43rd Assembly District GOP Candidate Menachem (Mendy) Raitport‘s campaign headquarters drew Kings County Republican Chairman Craig Eaton, former Congressman and current Queens County Republican Chairman Bob Turner, and Kings County Conservative Party Vice Chair Conservative Fran Vella-Marrone.
The GOP and Conservative Party attendance came with the realization that the May 5 special election is suddenly winnable due to filing errors that left the Democratic Party without a candidate on the ballot.
Additionally, the three other candidates running for the seat – Shirley Patterson, Geoffrey Davis and Diana Richardson – are all black in a district that’s 80 percent black and that a high voter turnout from the tightly knit Chabad Jewish community, from which Raitport belongs, could give him a winnable margin if the others on the ballot split the vote.
“We’ve had a lot of success in special elections and if we get out the vote this is a winnable election,” said Eaton, noting that both Turner in the 9th Congressional District and David Storobin in the now defunct 27th State Senatorial District won in special elections in longtime Democratic South Brooklyn strongholds.
Eaton also noted that Storobin won by a razor-thin 16 votes in his race and emphasized the importance of getting out the vote for Raitman. Several people at the gathering said they think 2,500 votes will win the election and Raitport said there are about 3,000 registered voters in the Crown Heights Chabad community.
Also in attendance and pledging their full support were Zaki Tamir, Chairman of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council, and prominent Crown Height Rabbi Shea Hecht.
