Political Season is in Full Swing

Rite of spring - As spring ends and summer nears, Dem political clubs hold their annual Spring Gala Fundraiser. It’s a highlight event with club members, electeds, candidates for political and judicial offices attending. On May 14th, the Four Freedoms Democratic Club held their gala at the Bohemian Spirit restaurant, located in the Bohemian National Hall on East 73rd St. It’s been FF’s go-to favorite for several years now. A great venue that has the vibe of old ethnic Yorkville Czech dining in an upscale setting. For the gala, Four Freedom takes over the space for the evening and Czech cuisine is set out buffet style. Think Beef Goulash, Chicken Schnitzel, red cabbage, potatoes, bread. And there’s an impressive array of artisanal beers and wines. Nice while mixing and mingling.

Assembly member Alex Bores, the club’s endorsed candidate for Jerry Nadler’s congressional seat was there. So was newly elected assembly member Keith Powers, Dem Party County Leader Keith L.T. Wright, and AM-to-be in the 73rd Assembly District Vanessa Aronson who has no opponent in the Democratic primary.

The Spring Gala’s Host Committee included Bores, NYS Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, FF president Jerry Ferguson, State Senator Liz Krueger, AM Rebecca Seawright, FF District Leaders Kim Moscaritolo and Rebecca Weintraub, and club members Jane Lindberg, Jill Eisner and John Wagner. “Our Spring fundraiser is one of the highlights of the year for Four Freedoms Democratic Club,” said the group’s president Jerry Ferguson. “It is a great opportunity to gather with friends and supporters and celebrate the important work we do throughout the year electing Democrats and promoting legislation that helps our community. This year we were thrilled to be joined by Congressional candidate Alex Bores who is an exciting new voice in the Democratic Party who combines technological savvy with Democratic party values.”

Judicial candidates vying for the three open seats on NY County Supreme Court - Christopher Chin, Ilana Marcus, Shah Ally, Ashlee Crawford, Hasa Kingo, Kate Waterman-Marshall - were mixing and mingling and speaking to club members and judicial delegates. Come August, at the Manhattan Democratic Convention, the delegates will vote on which candidates get the open seats. Judge Emily Morales was among the mixers and minglers. If she comes out of the Judicial Panel, she will be among the contenders for the open seats.

Also at the gala was Upper East Sider Steven Benathen. He’s a candidate for a Civil Court judgeship.

Equal Rights Amendment-In a recent Spectrum NY1 “Inside City Hall” tv interview, with Bobby Cuza, he interviewed former Rep. Carolyn Maloney and her daughter, Council member Virginia Maloney. Both Maloneys are calling on Congress to pass the Equal Rights Amendment. But he also learned there is a split in the mother/daughter combo when it comes to endorsing a candidate for the highly sought after seat in NY’s 12 Congressional district. Cuza asked Carolyn Maloney who she would like to see take the seat in the next congress that was partially carved out of her former seat and she gave a full-throated endorsement to Alex Bores. She described him as the “star” of the race who she said was rated as the most effective new member of the assembly and that he authored and passed 32 bills and brought $50 million in new state funds to the city. Still, she said she was amazed to open Time magazine recently and see that Alex was rated as one of the most important people “not in the country, but in the world.”

On the other hand, Cuza confirmed that Virginia has not endorsed anyone in the rough and tumble race.

The race is going down to the wire. In a recent reader poll, the W42nd St. news blog said its readers favored the west side assembly member Micah Lasher, who has attracted endorsements from former Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Gov. Kathy Hochul and Congressman Jerry Nadler. That survey said 28.6 percent of those surveyed favored Lasher, giving him a 5.8 percent lead over the 22.8 percent who preferred Bores. Of course, W42nd St is drawing on many of the same West Side readers that may have elected Lasher as a west side assembly member. The undecided block was pivotal at 14.2 percent.

In some early polls Jack Schlosberg, who was endorsed early on by Nancy Pelosi because of his “moxie” was rated the favorite, but has run into some trouble lately. A front page story in the New York Times in mid-May pointed out that the 32-year-old grandson of President John F. Kennedy does not seem to have held any long term jobs since he graduated with a joint law and MBA degrees from Harvard in 2022. “Erratic behavior and staff turnover have colored Mr. Schlossberg’s bid for a House seat in New York, raising questions about his readiness for office,” the article concluded. The W42nd St. poll pegged him with only 7.2 percent. He has some novel planks in his platform such as being able to deduct rent from federal income taxes.

George Conway, once a conservative Republican who founded the Lincoln Project to oppose President Donald Trump, was rated as high as second in an early poll his campaign commissioned. But in the reader survey he was third at only 10.5 percent.

Bores has been subject to attack ads mounted by a Think Big Pac, a political action committee funded by Trump supporters who are attacking him for his past employment with Palantar, an AI tech company. But he has also drawn support from big labor unions and the Anthropic-backed political action committee Public First Action, which supports his efforts to pass stricter laws governing A.I.

There are eight candidates still in the hunt, including two woman, Laura Dunn, a civil rights attorney who in the reader survey had six percent and Nina Schwalbe, a public health activist who was pulling 9.1 percent.

Early voting gets underway on June 13 in advance of the in-person primary day on June 23.