Ahead of Tuesday’s Democratic primary election for New York’s newly-redrawn 12th congressional district combining the Upper East Side and Upper West Side, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Jerry Nadler and Suraj Patel were asked by Upper East Site to give UES voters their ‘elevator pitch.’
This pitch has been edited for clarity and length
Rep. Nadler: Well, Carolyn and I are both very experienced, and senior committee chairs, and the way Congress works, with seniority, comes clout, and either of us could get a lot more done, and bring a lot more resources back to the district than any freshman, Suraj, no matter how talented he may be. This is a really good case for keeping a senior member.
Now, unfortunately, Carolyn and I have worked together for 30 years, worked together on the Second Avenue Subway, worked together, we worked together on a lot of different things. One of us isn’t going to be there. I would say that people have to judge.
If I were telling people the differences I’d say we’ve been very much alike, and for many years, and there have been differences in our voting records, and people should take that into account. I’ll name three; she voted for the Iraq War, I voted against it. She voted for the Patriot Act, I voted against it. She voted against the Iran [Nuclear] Deal, I voted for it.
I think those are very important issues and I think I’m a principal progressive, which is why I’ve taken those hard votes, and they were hard. I think it goes to see a summary of some of the reasons in The New York Times endorsement that I was honored to get yesterday.
Nora Wesson: Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Rep. Nadler: I have a number of endorsements, besides New York Times, the main one being Senator Elizabeth Warren, Comptroller Brad Lander, and every elected official on the West Side, because they all know me.
I’m excited for the opportunity to represent the east side as well as the West Side. You know, I’ve lived in Manhattan since I went through since I was in college, and there’s no artificial line between the east side, the West Side, they’re very similar.
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