Unseating incumbents Congressional members is always a long shot, but this year both Jerrold Nadler and Nydia Velazquez face challengers that could cause them to lose some sleep.
That after both a Democratic and Republican met the City’s Board Of Elections filing deadline yesterday in turning in more than the 1,250 signatures needed to challenge Nadler in both the June Primary and November General election, and an Asian-American Democrat filed enough names to challenge Velazquez in a district that is increasingly getting more Asian and less Hispanic – Velazquez’s base.
“I am pleased to share that my campaign filed 3,500 signatures yesterday, 85% of which were gathered door-to-door in every neighborhood of the diverse 7th District, working off of lists of registered Democrats,” said Yungman Lee, the Democratic Asian-American attorney and banker who is challenging Velazquez on June 28.
“This process has been very encouraging, showing the strength of my candidacy and – more importantly – the willingness of Democrats to look for a responsible change after 24 years of entrenched, ineffective incumbency,” he added.
Also submitting enough petition signatures to run in the district, which includes parts of Queens and Manhattan as well as Bushwick, Red Hook, Sunset Park and Williamsburg in Brooklyn, were Democrat Jeffrey Kurzon and Republican Allan Romaguera.
Kurzon ran against Velazquez in the primary in 2014 and garnered a little more than 19 percent of the votes to Velazquez’ 80 percent.
Nadler, who did not have a Democratic or Republican challenge in 2014 will face Oliver Rosenberg in the Democratic primary. Rosenberg is a religious Jewish gay activist from a prominent Los Angeles Jewish family. Among the issues he is running on is that he opposed the Iran Nuclear accord – an issue that Nadler supported angering many in his pro-Israel base who were also against the deal.
“We far exceeded our expectations (in submitting signatures to get on the ballot) and we’re really excited to jump start the campaign,” said a Rosenberg spokesperson. “It’s nice that he (Nadler) will have his first Democratic opponent in over 20 years. We’re super excited to preserve Democracy.”
Phil Rosenthal, an accomplished, scientist, attorney and entrepreneur, is the Republican who easily secured enough signatures to get on the GOP ballot in the November General election. Rosenthal comes from the Bronx and has working class roots that includes graduating second in his class from the Bronx School of Science.
Rosenthal also did not support the Iran accord.
“Petitioning is a unique privilege in our democracy, and it has been a great pleasure and honor to speak with so many residents of the New York 10th! We can learn so much from each other, and I look forward to continuing this community-wide conversation,” said Rosenthal.
“To have a meaningful democracy, we need strongly competitive elections. Our team went all out in the petitioning process to make sure we significantly exceeded the legal signature requirement so that the voters of New York would have the choice that they deserve. The residents of the 10th district want options, and we are not afraid of competition. I have faith in the democratic process and that the people of New York will make the best decision for our great city and nation.”
