New Yorkers are already voting by mail and early voting….
Two US House races are at the head of the media stories….
Rep. Eliot Engel’s
Rep, Acasio-Cortez
In the New York City primaries?
A win the primary assures you the job come January….
Embattled Rep. Eliot Engel’s tough primary re-election battle against lefty insurgent Jamaal Bowman in the Bronx-Westchester congressional district has garnered the most attention, but political insiders said there are a handful of other primary races June 23 that could yield upsets.
In Brooklyn’s 9th Congressional District, veteran Rep. Yvette Clarke faces off again against Adem Bunkeddeko, who captured 47 percent in a near-upset two years ago.
But there are two other candidates who are potential wildcards or spoilers — Councilman Chaim Deutsch, who could attract a sizable portion of the Jewish vote, and Army veteran and, like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a democratic socialist, Isiah James.
Meanwhile, in Brooklyn Assembly District 51 (Red Hook, Sunset Park), veteran incumbent Felix Ortiz faces several challengers — including Marcela Mitaynes, who is backed by lefty firebrand AOC and the Democratic Socialists of America.
There are a handful of primaries around western Queens, where AOC toppled longtime congressman Joe Crowley two years ago….
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Two years after Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) stunned the political establishment and unseated Joseph Crowley, then the fourth-ranked House Democrat, Engel is trying to fend off the same insurgency from the left. The House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman knew it was coming and has welcomed the help, from the endorsements of Hillary Clinton, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and top congressional Democrats to Republican donors funding a super PAC that backs him.
“I’m grateful to anyone who supports me,” said the 73-year-old Engel.
A victory for Engel would humble his party’s growing left wing after its favored candidates came up short in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. A defeat would reveal the limits of a party establishment that, just a few years ago, could keep its incumbents safe…
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Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) has spent more money than any House Democrat seeking reelection this year, building a massive political team and an even bigger money machine.
An analysis of the freshman firebrand’s prodigious spending shows Ocasio-Cortez has nearly 40 staffers on her campaign, with 30 having been hired in 2020 — a staff size more typical of a top-tier Senate campaign than a congresswoman seeking reelection in a safely progressive seat.
Ocasio-Cortez had spent $6.3 million through June 3, according to her latest FEC report, sixth overall among House candidates.
Just two years after she pulled off a stunning upset over a veteran lawmaker, Ocasio-Cortez has become a magnet for small-dollar donors. She has raised more than $10.5 million, about 80 percent of which came from donors giving under $200, the FEC reports show.
That mammoth haul makes her the fifth-most prodigious fundraiser of the cycle so far, behind only House GOP whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a legendary fundraiser, has brought in $8.3 million to her personal reelection campaign, though she has also raised for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).
Her spending hints that Ocasio-Cortez is working to build an even more robust fundraising operation. She has spent almost $1.2 million on Facebook ads that target viewers around the country, ads likely meant to recruit more donors. And she has spent half a million dollars renting email lists and advertising at a Washington-based consulting firm.
Paul Herrnson, a political science professor at the University of Connecticut who studies campaign finance and congressional elections, said $6 million is “quite a bit for a person in a safe district to spend.”
Ocasio-Cortez’s most significant political challenge this year comes next week, when she faces former Republican and news anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera in the Democratic primary. FEC records show she has spent nearly $60,000 this year on polling at Lake Research Partners, a prominent Democratic survey research firm, to keep an eye on her own numbers.
Caruso-Cabrera, who is backed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has raised more than $2 million through donations from dozens of chief executives and bankers….
image….AOC/NY Post.Com
image…Engel/NY Post. Com
More on NYC’s primaries ….
Two years after Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s shocking upset, progressives are plotting to shake up New York’s congressional delegation again in Tuesday’s primaries.
While Rep. Eliot Engel’s (D-N.Y.) race represents their best shot to oust another incumbent, nearly every sitting House Democrat in New York City and its suburbs faces some level of threat from the left. And progressive candidates are in contention to win a pair of open seats….
More…
I’ll have another piece on the NY House races today which are pitting progressives against incumbents ….
In New York, absentee ballots are not fully counted until a week after the election. And those ballots could represent about half of all votes cast in the primary…..
More…(With a little Kentucky thrown in)….