Democratic nominee Melinda Katz has a new Republican challenger just two months ahead of the Queens District Attorney’s race, according to the Queens County GOP.
On Aug. 25, amateur boxer, retired police officer and attorney Joseph Murray was announced as the new Republican nominee who will be replacing former contender Daniel Kogan, according to the Queens County GOP.
Earlier this month, Kogan, a lawyer and placeholder candidate who didn’t actively campaign in the race, accepted a judgeship leaving the GOP without a challenger for Katz after she narrowly won the Democratic nomination with 55 votes.
“@QueensCountyGOP unanimously endorses @JoeMurrayLaw for District Attorney!” tweeted out the Queens chapter of the Republican Party.
Murray, a Howard Beach native, was a Golden Gloves boxer for the NYPD/PBA international boxing team while serving as a police officer in the 115th Precinct and the Queens North Task Force, according to the website of the Law Office of Joseph Murray.
A fight with another police officer led Murray to be terminated after a court case and nearly penniless, but after defending himself at an appeals court he won and was instead suspended from the force, but that experience led the 15-year veteran cop to become a lawyer.
In 2003, Murray graduated cum laude from Queens College and later in 2006 from the CUNY School of Law and went on to pass the New York State Bar, according to his website. He joined a mid-sized law firm and became a construction civil litigator with a focus on personal injuries.
With both nominees in place for the Nov. 5th general election, potential voters who have not yet registered to vote have until Oct. 11 to do so, according to Vote411.org. Residents can sign-up to vote by mail, online or in-person.
New Yorkers will get to participate in early voting during this general election, according to the city’s Board of Elections. Voters from Queens have 12 select sites and three voting time slots to choose from between Oct. 26 to Nov. 3.
On Oct. 26 to Oct. 27 and Nov. 2 to Nov. 3, voters can go to select sites from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for early voting. Otherwise, they can vote from Oct. 28 to Oct. 30 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m., according to the BOE.
The sites include Al Oerter Recreation Center (Flushing), First Baptist Church of Corona (East Elmhurst), Korean Community Services (Bayside), Museum of the Moving Image (Astoria), Queens Voting Machine Facility Annex (Middle Village), Resorts World Casino New York City (South Ozone Park) or Rockaway YMCA (Arverne), according to the BOE.
The other sites include Cross Island YMCA (Bellerose), Holy Trinity Parish Church (Cambria Heights), LaGuardia Community College (Long Island City), New York Hall of Science (Corona), Queens Borough Hall (Kew Gardens), Rochdale Village Community Center (Rochdale Village) and York College (Jamaica).
