Seven candidates were at the political forum Sunday afternoon at the Alianza Dominicana Cultural Center in the Bronx, each to express how he or she should be the one to replace the retiring Rep. Charles Rangel. Rangel has represented the now 13th Congressional District for 46 years.
“This is a forum, not a debate,” said Juan Rosa, president of the Barack Obama Democratic Club of Upper Manhattan, the event’s sponsor. He also announced that State Senator Bill Perkins, who was scheduled to be among the panelists, had dropped out of the race.
His departure should enhance Assemblyman Keith Wright’s bid for the office, although gauging the number of people outside the location handing out campaign literature and the reception he received from the crowd inside, he may already be considered the front runner.
“But I am not running on my rhetoric, but my record,” Wright told the audience, attempting to quiet his throng of supporters.
Each candidate was given an allotted time to introduce himself or herself—Ambassador Suzan Johnson Cook, a former NYPD chaplain was the only woman—and then respond to several questions during the discussion, slated for two hours. Mino Lora and Shahabuddeen Ally were the moderators.
During his introductory remarks, Clyde Williams cited his connection to the Bill Clinton administration. “I worked on Bill Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign and in the White House and with the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” he stated. “And I am willing to go to Washington, D.C. and fight for you.”
Assemblyman Guillermo Linares of the 72nd District could have stressed his connection to the Clinton administration, but he was more concerned about how the government has basically turned its back on the community. He did tell listeners, “I was the first Dominican-born elected to public office in the United States.” That was in 1991.
In contrast to the soft-spoken Linares, State Senator Adriano Espaillat was loud and declarative, listing his achievements in Albany, including authoring 77 pieces of legislation. “But this election is not about the past, but about the future,” he said, and that past includes his contentious relationship with Linares. “We need to have a decent living wage” he declared, which was among a litany of proposals.
Ambassador Johnson Cook began by mentioning her family’s accomplishments in politics and civic affairs. Although she passionately invoked the critical issues facing women, chiefly protecting them against domestic violence and ensuring paid family leave, the fate of young Black men was among her concerns. “Disproportionately our men are incarcerated and not proportionately educated,” she stated.
When Assemblyman Wright rose to speak, he was greeted with sustained applause and cries of approval. Moreover, he and his family are so well-known in the community and elsewhere that when he asked the crowd to shout out his father’s nickname they chanted, “Turn ‘Em Loose Bruce,” for the late Judge Bruce Wright. But Wright let them know that he wasn’t banking on his family’s name. “My name is the number two name on the repeal of Rockefeller’s Drug laws,” he said, calming the crowd. And he noted his primary role in the creation of a Workers’ Bill of Rights.
Perhaps the least known of the candidates was Michael Gallagher. His points on basic health care, taxing the rich and income inequality were similar to those being made by presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders. “Tax cuts for rich people is not the solution,” he said of the need for social change, something whoever succeeds Rangel will encounter. A Harvard graduate who has chosen to stay at home and raise his children, Gallagher, white, faces an uphill battle to gain the seat.
On the other hand, if Gallagher is practically unknown, former Assemblyman and Councilman Adam Clayton Powell IV is readily identified, and he, like Wright, was greeted with a burst of applause. After briefly recalling the pivotal role his grandfather and father played in public affairs, he offered a bit of his own impressive resume. His push to hike the minimum wage was among the first things he said he did once elected to the Assembly. “I joined a corps of progressive leaders … to raise the minimum wage,” he recounted. “Everybody said it couldn’t be done, but after four years we raised the minimum wage in New York State.”
Powell, like the other candidates, had to deal with questions about immigration reform, education, jobs and affordable housing, and there was very little distinction in their approaches to these issues.
What will be interesting as they go forward is who will get the endorsements and who has the financial means to run a strong campaign. Wright, according to the Federal Election Commission, has more than $400,000 in his coffers. The latest campaign finance report for Powell shows that he has approximately $145,000 in his war chest.
A committee summary of Williams’ receipts and contributions has him at a little more than $250,000, with a good number of the donors from either downtown or outside the state. Espaillat, who has run against Rangel twice before, has nearly $140,000. Johnson Cook has a little more than $125,000 according to the latest summary of her account at the FEC.
For the rest of the candidates, very little information was available.
The important takeaways from the forum and the race ahead is the extent to which Powell, Williams, Wright and Johnson Cook will neutralize each other, divvying the vote in such a way it allows Espaillat to win with a majority of Hispanic votes, given that the vote goes along ethnic lines. Votes for Linares will cut into Espaillat’s total.
When the debates begin in earnest, when the field of candidates is finally settled and the money raised, we will have a better idea of how things will shape up before the June 28 election. Meanwhile, the first round of endorsements is expected this week.
