Election Day is only a few weeks away, and the New York County Democrats are working hard to ensure that former Vice President Joe Biden (D) not only defeats incumbent President Donald Trump (R), but that Democrats win all the down-ballot races as well.
New York County Democrats Leader Keith Wright spoke with New York County Politics about their work at the end of a heated campaign.
“The biggest fear is that New York won’t turn out, because if New York doesn’t turn out, Donald Trump may get reelected, so we’re doing all that we can to make sure that does not happen,” he said. “The hope is we will have a record turnout in Manhattan, and we’re doing all we can to ensure that will happen.”
Wright continued, shedding light on the work of affiliated groups. “We have a bunch of political organizations that comprise and make up the totality of the New York County Democrats, and I can tell you each and every one is working hard: phone baking, voter registration, alerting people as to the early voting sites, and on down the line to make sure that voting is as comfortable and as safe as possible.”
Despite his worries, he remained confident that Manhattan’s demographics would help them win big. “Most people watch MSNBC or CNN every night, and we’re very lucky in New York County because we do have a very sophisticated electorate, and they pay attention,” assured Wright. He capped off his statement with an anecdote of witnessing a mass booing of two people flying a Trump flag in SoHo.
We also asked Wright about local elections, particularly the race for the 76th Assembly District, where incumbent Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright (D-Upper East Side, Roosevelt Island) was disqualified from running on the party line due to a filing error. Wright insisted that she would return to Albany, calling the technicality “a bit of a snafu.”
“I predict Seawright will prevail handily for a couple of reasons. Number one, she is a dedicated public servant and people know her name. And I think the folks in the district are certainly sophisticated enough and intelligent enough to go with Rebecca Seawright rather than Lou the Doorman,” he told this reporter, referring dismissively to Seawright’s challenger, Lou Puliafito (R).
Meanwhile, the campaign work of their Republican counterparts remains unclear. Andrea Catsimatidis, the organization’s chair, declined several requests for comment.
