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QUEENS WEEKLY, JANUARY 5, 2020
When Donovan Richards launched his campaign for Queens Borough President at the Unisphere, he had the blessing of Claire Shulman. Now he is endorsed by the Queens County Democrats.
Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
What you need to know about the special
election for Queens borough president
BY BILL PARRY
While it is still yet to be
determined when the special
election for Queens borough
president will be held,
one thing that is becoming
clear is that the race to replace
Queens District Attorney
elect Melinda Katz
is shaping up to be another
battle between “the establishment”
and the “leftwing
progressives” of the
Democratic party.
From the moment Councilman
Donovan Richards
announced his candidacy
for Katz’s seat last fall, with
former Borough President
Claire Shulman by his side,
Richards appeared to be the
establishment’s choice.
That became clear when
Congressman Gregory
Meeks, the chairman of the
Queens County Democratic
Committee, announced
that Richards was receiving
their endorsement. In
accepting, Richards said,
“We want to send an olive
branch to people but they
have to want to work with
us.”
Assemblywoman Alicia
Hyndman was the only other
candidate for borough
president in the room, and
she promptly announced
she would step out of the
race and “stand with the
Party” and support the endorsed
county candidate.
Hyndman’s decision means
that the vote would not be
split in southeast Queens.
The Richards endorsement
came a week after
Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer received endorsements
from progressive
stars Zephyr Teachout and
Cynthia Nixon.
“From defeating Amazon,
to defying the party
bosses, to organizing to get
money out of politics, Jimmy
is the true progressive
choice for Queens borough
president,” Teachout said.
Van Bramer had campaigned
for the public
defender from Astoria,
Tiffany Cabán, who ran
on a radical decarceral
platform and nearly upset
Katz, who was seen as the
“establishment candidate.”
In the previous election cycle,
Van Bramer supported
Alexandria Ocasio-Costez
who upset former Queens
County chairman Joseph
Crowley in the Democratic
primary for Congress.
AOC’s victory put progressive
organizations such as
the Working Families Party
and the Democrat Socialists
of America as leaders
in the far-left movement in
western Queens.
Van Bramer was among
the opposition to Amazon’s
plan to build its HQ2 campus
in Long Island City,
grilling their executives at
City Council hearing.
Richards has made it
clear that running Amazon
out of Queens, and taking
their promise of 25,000
good-paying jobs, was not
in the borough’s best interests.
If Amazon becomes a
flashpoint between Richards
and Van Bramer,
Councilman Costa Constantinides,
the author of
the city’s Green New Deal,
could ride the progressive
wave to Borough Hall. Constantinides
became chair
of the council’s environmental
protection committee
and has a long history of
environmental activism.
He declared his candidacy
in September with the
promise of a stronger, more
equitable and more resilient
Queens in the face of
climate change.
“Queens residents deserve
leadership that ensures
they aren’t displaced
by rising tides or rising
rents,” Constantinides
said. “Sadly, seven years
after Sandy killed 11 of our
neighbors, destroyed our
coastal communities and
eroded our shores, we are
still unprepared for the
next storm.”
Also in the race is former
Councilwoman Elizabeth
Crowley and retired
President of the Latino Officers
Association Anthony
Miranda. Crowley has been
pushing to have passenger
service return on the Lower
Montauk Branch of the
Long Island Rail Road.
“I don’t think the borough
president was bold
enough in her vision in
terms of building our transportation
infrastructure,”
Crowley said at a Forest
Hills candidate forum in
November.
Miranda agreed that
transportation had not
improved and that Katz
“didn’t do the things that
were necessary to alleviate
overcrowding of our
schools.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio
must announce a date for
the Queens borough president
special election within
80 days after Katz leaves
Borough Hall. Insiders
expect that date to fall on
Tuesday, March 24, but that
is up to City Hall.
Reach reporter Bill Parry
by e-mail at bparry@schnepsmedia.
com or by phone
at (718) 260–4538.
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