My recommendations for Election Day
We’ve canvassed together, knocked on hundreds of thousands of doors, made phone calls, sent texts, recruited friends and families, and, ok, even chewed our fingernails bloody in our efforts to take back the House, win the New York State Senate, defeat some real villains, elect some real heroes … and get our democracy on a far better track.
Now, Election Day is here. The New York State General Election is tomorrow, Tuesday, November 6. Polls are open from 6 am-9 pm. You can check your poll site or registration status at voting.nyc. Any other questions? Call 1-866-VOTE-NYC or send an email to ElectionInfo@boe.nyc.ny.us.
Here are my recommendations for tomorrow, for state & federal races in Brooklyn, judges, the NYC ballot propositions, and even where to watch results together tomorrow night:
BALLOT PROPOSITIONS
I’m voting YES for all three ballot measures, and I hope you’ll join me.
Question #1: Campaign Finance (Reduce Contribution Limits and Expand Matching Funds for Small-Dollar Contributions) -- YES
Question #2: Civic Engagement (Create a Civic Engagement Commission & Expand Participatory Budgeting City-wide) -- YES
Question #3: Community Boards (Establish an eight-year term limit and provide more planning resources) -- YES
For me, it really comes down to this: I’m worried about the state of our democracy, even here in NYC, and I think it’s worth trying some new things to open up participation and breathe new life and energy into it.
If you’d like a much more detailed argument (you know I can use a lot more words), click here.
NATIONAL & STATEWIDE RACES
For state & federal races (but not for judges, see below) please join me in voting for all the candidates on the Working Families Party (WFP) line, Row E.
The WFP is the voice of progressive New Yorkers. Whether it’s getting corporate money out of politics, supporting a woman’s right to choose, fighting for good jobs, converting to a clean energy economy, or investing in schools and not jails, the WFP is on the front lines. As you know, I joined the WFP in endorsing Cynthia Nixon & Jumaane Williams in the Democratic Primary. Now, in the general election, I join them in urging you to #VoteWFP for the following candidates:
STATEWIDE
Governor: Andrew Cuomo
Lieutenant Governor: Kathy Hochul
Attorney General: Letitia James
State Comptroller: Tom DiNapoli
If you want to keep up the pressure to pass strong legislation to protect reproductive health care, make voting easier, reform our campaign finance laws, strengthen the rent laws, and fix the subways, please join me in voting for these candidates on Row E, the Working Families Party line.
NATIONAL
U.S. Senate: Kirsten Gillibrand
U.S. House of Representatives:
7th District: Nydia Velazquez
8th District: Hakeem Jeffries
9th District: Yvette D. Clarke
10th District: Jerrold R. Nadler
11th District: Max Rose
(And, of course, for Liuba Grechen Shirley in NY-2, Antonio Delgado in NY-19, and all of the other candidates running on the Working Families Party & Democratic Party lines).
STATE SENATE & STATE ASSEMBLY
44th AD: Robert Carroll
48th AD: Simcha Eichenstein
52nd AD: JoAnne Simon
20th SD: Zellnor Myrie*
21st SD: Kevin Parker
22nd SD: Andrew Gounardes**
25th SD: Velmanette Montgomery
26th SD: Brian Kavanagh
*You may have seen that Jesse Hamilton, who lost the primary to Zellnor, is still running on several other minor party lines (and even using his campaign funds to pay for a luxury car lease). This is disappointing, but don’t worry too much. Just vote for Zellnor on either the Democratic or Working Families Party lines. He’s going to win by a lot ...and be a truly fantastic State Senator.
**I’m especially excited to support Andrew Gounardes, who is running for State Senate against Marty Golden for NY-22. Golden’s staffer invited the Proud Boys to speak in NYC, with their white nationalist bile & violence, and he still hasn’t fired or disciplined him. For this, and so many other reasons (including his reckless driving & his failure to keep NYC’s life-saving school-zone speed cameras on this summer), Marty Golden does not deserve to be re-elected. If you have any friends or family living in South Brooklyn (Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Fort Hamilton), please urge them to vote for Andrew.
JUDGES
The ballot for judges is a little bit confusing this year. The judges on the WFP line are not actually seeking the posts, they are there because of antiquated ballot rules, so please do NOT vote for the judicial candidates on the WFP line.
I am endorsing the following judges on the Democratic Party line:
Supreme Court, 2nd District
Devin Cohen*
Wayne Saitta*
Sylvia O. Hinds-Radix
Ingrid Joseph
Lisa S. Ottley
Michelle G. Weston
*I’m especially excited to support Devin Cohen and Wayne Saitta, both of whom I’ve worked with and think very highly of.
Civil Court, 1st District
Anne Swern
Surrogate Court
Harriet Thompson
What to do on Election Night?
The past two years have been hard ones. We’ve had unbearable points: the cruel & abusive separation of immigrant kids from their parents, the Muslim ban, the Kavanaugh confirmation, so much hateful rhetoric, and of course, the anti-Semitic and racist murders of recent days sitting heavily on our minds.
But we’ve also come together and organized in ways far more powerful than we dared dream. We refused to accept that Trump speaks for us. We’ve held fast to the belief that our values are American values, the values of equality and dignity and social justice and the welcoming of immigrants. And we’ve organized to show it. Whether to protect the Affordable Care Act with organized die-ins, or for enough volunteers to canvass all of Staten Island showing up for Max Rose on Saturday in an effort to take back the House, we’ve done some truly incredible things together (And we’ll continue to do them, no matter what happens on Tuesday. It’s amazing what #GetOrganizedBK already has planned for the days ahead. More about that on Wednesday).
Given all we’ve done together, I hope you’ll choose to spend Election Night together with GOBK & INBK & CBID & me at The Bell House for an election night results watch party.
The evening starts at 8pm with comedy, music, and special guests. At 9pm we’ll turn it over to the big screen as we watch the results roll in. Hopefully, we’ll celebrate a big blue wave. In any case, we will honor the GOTV work we’ve done together ... and build solidarity for the struggles ahead.
RSVP here: https://www.facebook.com/events/2271332273110543/
First we canvas (there’s still time tonight to text or call voters).
Then we vote (and make sure everyone we know does, too).
Then we gather.
Then we keep organizing.
It is my great privilege to do it with you.
Brad