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Political Update

April 6th, 2018

Morelle Announces Run for Congress

Assembly Majority Leader Joe Morelle (D – Irondequoit) announced this week that he plans to run for the 25th Congressional seat that became vacant due to the recent death of longtime Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. The district is located entirely within Monroe County, centered on the city of Rochester.

A number of other Democrats have indicated that they are considering a run for the seat.

Unshackle Upstate has been supportive of Assemblyman Morelle’s efforts to improve New York’s business climate.

Gov. Cuomo is required to call a special election to fill the seat through the end of 2018; it is not yet clear when that will be held.  In order to run in the June 26 primary, candidates have until April 12 to get 1,250 signatures from party members.

Stringer Endorses Two IDC Challengers

On Thursday, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer endorsed two Democratic State Senate candidates who are challenging members of the Senate Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) in the September primary.

Stringer endorsed Robert Jackson, who is challenging Marisol Alcantara in Manhattan’s 31st Senate District, and Jessica Ramos, who is challenging Jose Peralta for the 13th Senate District in Queens.

The eight-member IDC is part of a coalition with the Senate’s Republican Conference. (Another Democrat, Senator Simcha Felder of Brooklyn, is not an IDC member, but caucuses with Republicans.)

These races are expected to be some of the highest profile and most competitive in the September primary elections.

Nixon Blasts Cuomo in Albany and New York City

A week after announcing her gubernatorial run, Cynthia Nixon came to Albany on Monday where she blasted the Governor for being a bully, and criticized his record on public corruption.  She spoke at an event where she called for the state to provide more education funding. She also said that she supports increasing taxes on the rich wealthy, and called the Governor self-imposed 2 percent spending cap “disastrous.”

Later in the week, she toured a New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) complex in Brooklyn.  She said she was shocked at the conditions, and criticized the Governor for not directing more state money towards fixing the aging apartment complexes to address chronic leaks and mold issues.  She said the state should be budgeting $1 billion this year for the public housing authority.

On Thursday, several labor union leaders issued statements attacking Nixon.  One criticized her for saying that the state’s tax credits for film and TV ‘doesn’t merit the investment.’  Another criticized her for comments she made saying that union agreements would need to be addressed to reduce mass transportation construction costs.