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My congressional district has a Democratic primary next month (other parties may also have primaries; I haven't checked). This is what used to be the Harlem district, once represented by Adam Clayton Powell Jr., and since 1970 by Charlie Rangel.
I think Rangel has just convinced me to vote for Adriano Espaillat. Not because of anything he said for or against Espaillat: because today's Rangel flier throws God into the equation (as part of saying "hey, look, Korean War veteran").
If Espaillat is elected, he will be the first member of Congress of Dominican ancestry (a quick look at his own website and Wikipedia doesn't tell me whether he was born in the U.S. or the D.R.). That's going to be a factor in the primary, but will be balanced against Rangel's strong roots in the African-American community; however, after the latest redistricting, the district is majority-Latino, and a lot of those are Dominican. As far as I can tell, I don't have any preference on those grounds: either is fine with me.
Rangel had worked his slow way up the seniority ladder in Congress to be chair of the Ways and Means Committee for a bit, and then ranking minority member: and then there was a complicated mess involving corruption charges and misuse/hoarding of rent controlled apartments. As part of settling that, he gave up his seniority. Given how Congress works, if I have the choice of two equally good (or equally bad) candidates, but one would be chair of a committee that is important in handling appropriations, and the other wouldn't, it benefits me to vote for the committee chair, because it'll mean more useful stuff for the district. (I might not benefit directly, but it would be good for my neighborhood.)
Just to complicate everyone's lives, this is one of three primary elections this year. The presidential primary was in April. The primary for the state legislature will be on Thursday September 13, for added confusion since primaries are traditionally held on Tuesdays; apparently the head of the firefighter's union asked that it not be on September 11, despite the fact that September 11, 2001, being a primary day saved lives, because some people stopped to vote before work that morning and weren't there when the planes hit the World Trade Center. A September primary wouldn't leave enough time between counting the votes and Election Day to satisfy current federal law. This is mostly being talked about in terms of not disenfranchising people in the military, but it also affects civilians living abroad, of course (hi, Mom!). No, I don't know why the federal law doesn't affect elections for the state legislature (or mayor, next year, or any other state or local office). Some interpretation of federalism?
I think Rangel has just convinced me to vote for Adriano Espaillat. Not because of anything he said for or against Espaillat: because today's Rangel flier throws God into the equation (as part of saying "hey, look, Korean War veteran").
If Espaillat is elected, he will be the first member of Congress of Dominican ancestry (a quick look at his own website and Wikipedia doesn't tell me whether he was born in the U.S. or the D.R.). That's going to be a factor in the primary, but will be balanced against Rangel's strong roots in the African-American community; however, after the latest redistricting, the district is majority-Latino, and a lot of those are Dominican. As far as I can tell, I don't have any preference on those grounds: either is fine with me.
Rangel had worked his slow way up the seniority ladder in Congress to be chair of the Ways and Means Committee for a bit, and then ranking minority member: and then there was a complicated mess involving corruption charges and misuse/hoarding of rent controlled apartments. As part of settling that, he gave up his seniority. Given how Congress works, if I have the choice of two equally good (or equally bad) candidates, but one would be chair of a committee that is important in handling appropriations, and the other wouldn't, it benefits me to vote for the committee chair, because it'll mean more useful stuff for the district. (I might not benefit directly, but it would be good for my neighborhood.)
Just to complicate everyone's lives, this is one of three primary elections this year. The presidential primary was in April. The primary for the state legislature will be on Thursday September 13, for added confusion since primaries are traditionally held on Tuesdays; apparently the head of the firefighter's union asked that it not be on September 11, despite the fact that September 11, 2001, being a primary day saved lives, because some people stopped to vote before work that morning and weren't there when the planes hit the World Trade Center. A September primary wouldn't leave enough time between counting the votes and Election Day to satisfy current federal law. This is mostly being talked about in terms of not disenfranchising people in the military, but it also affects civilians living abroad, of course (hi, Mom!). No, I don't know why the federal law doesn't affect elections for the state legislature (or mayor, next year, or any other state or local office). Some interpretation of federalism?