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QUEENS WEEKLY, MAY 31, 2020
Queens political candidates ‘leaning on creativity’
in adapting campaigns during COVID-19 pandemic
BY JACOB KAYE
Peter Harrison had a
plan. His campaign was going
to knock on every door
in every NYCHA apartment
located in the congressional
district he’s hoping to
represent come November.
Then the pandemic began.
As was true for many
candidates, Harrison’s ambitious
ground game came
to a halt. The message
would have to be spread
through the phone, online
or other non-traditional
campaign means.
But despite the change
in his physical campaign,
Harrison, whose messaging
revolves around equitable
housing policy, found
that his policy goals and
political convictions didn’t
change at all.
As many candidates running
for office have come to
believe, the COVID-19 crisis
has only amplified the issues
they were fighting for
prior to the pandemic, and
has made their policy goals
more pertinent than ever.
“Just like so many other
issues, COVID hasn’t created
the housing crisis. It’s
just heightened it so much,”
Harrison said. “It’s really
clarified why I’m running.”
Leaning on creativity
Most politicians and
candidates agree — nothing
beats connecting with
voters in person. But as
the novel coronavirus crisis
ravaged the city and
campaign events like town
halls, knocking on doors
and handing out flyers at
subway stations became
matters of public health,
candidates turned to the
web.
“We’ve moved to being
100 percent digital,” said
Lauren Ashcraft, who,
along with Harrison, is
challenging Congresswoman
Carolyn Maloney in New
York’s 12th Congressional
District. “It’s been a pretty
smooth transition, but we
are also kind of leaning on
our creativity, as well.”
Every Monday, Ashcraft
takes to social media
to livestream her lunch.
While she cooks, Ashcraft
takes questions about her
platform. On Saturdays,
she takes questions as she
makes her way through
the COVID-19-free world of
Fortnite.
But the candidate hasn’t
gotten rid of all traditional
campaign methods. With
many people in their homes,
the first-time candidate has
a slew of volunteers across
the country calling voters
on behalf of the campaign.
Ashcraft has also hosted
several virtual town halls
on Zoom.
Many candidates have
mobilized their volunteers
and utilized their organizing
skills to deliver direct
aid to the people and communities
they hope to soon
represent.
Anthony Miranda, a retired
NYPD sergeant running
for Queens borough
president, began making
welfare calls to Queens residents
and getting food and
supplies to residents and
first responders alike.
“The first thing that
changed is that we focused
on getting emergency
supplies to individuals,”
Miranda said.
The former president of
the National Latino Officers
Association said that
he and his team organized
to deliver 100,000 masks to
hospital workers and that
they soon plan on donating
100,000 more.
Councilman Donovan
Richards, who is also running
for Queens borough
president, has mobilized
his campaign to get food
and supplies to his constituents
as well.
“The bread and butter
issues that are important to
the community are the priority,”
Richards said.
But Richards, who’s been
in the City Council since
2013, has also embraced online
campaigning.
“There’s no shortage of
Zoom meetings,” Richards
said.
In fact, the southeast
Queens representative
believes that the digital
changes made during the
COVID-19 crisis might become
standard practice in
future campaigns.
“You can’t replace the
one-on-one human aspect
of a campaign,” Richards
said. “But this crisis is actually
going to change the
face of how campaigning is
done in the future.”
Validating the thesis
While physical campaigning
has changed,
many candidates believe
that the issues that made
up their platform prior to
the pandemic have only become
more relevant.
Across the political spectrum,
candidates feel the
COVID-19 crisis has only
highlighted and heightened
the issues they hope to address
once elected.
For Iggy Terravnova,
an Astorian challenging
Michael Gianaris for the incumbent’s
state Senate seat,
Amazon’s HQ2 withdrawal
is what brought him into
politics. According to Terranova,
the issue couldn’t
be more relevant now.
“So many people are
losing their jobs. If Amazon
was here now, Queens
would be in such a better
position because there
would be jobs here,” Terranova
said. “COVID-19 emphasized
how selfish everyone
was because they were
short minded. Here we are,
a year and change later, and
we could really use them.”
Candidates who have
run on issues related to
health care have found
their message more pertinent
than ever.
“My platform is for universal
healthcare,” said
Jessica González-Rojas,
who’s challenging Michael
DenDekker in the New York
state Assembly. “They say
the virus doesn’t discriminate
but it does. Health inequalities
are multiplied
for people of color and
low-income communities.
That’s something I’ve been
fighting my entire life.”
For Richards — who
represented the Rockaways
during the Hurricane Sandy
recovery — the COVID-
19 crisis, while distinct and
devastating in its own right,
is nothing new for the community
he represents.
“As a black man from
southeast Queens and the
Rockaways, we’re living
a real moment,” Richards
said. “The people dying in
large numbers are people
who look just like me and
my community. This only
reinforces and heightens
my purpose in running and
fighting for people from my
community.”
Harrison said that the
public health crisis, which
has touched nearly every
aspect of New Yorkers’
lives, has only validated
his campaign’s thesis about
housing.
He’s gone back to his
roots as an organizer and
has shifted his campaign to
focus more on rent strikes
– New York’s 12th Congressional
District is mostly
comprised of renters.
For Harrison and others,
COVID-19 has put political
campaigns into perspective.
The policy issues
they want to fight for have
become even more important,
and doing what they
believe will best help their
community has become the
top priority.
“Whether that translates
to victory on June 23,
we’ll see,” Harrison said.
“But these issues don’t go
away on June 24.”
Anthony Miranda, a candidate for Queens borough president, distributes food to those in need in late April 2020. His
campaign has shifted to direct aid operations during the COVID-19 crisis. Photo courtesy of Anthony Miranda/Twitter