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QUEENS WEEKLY, NOV. 3, 2019
BY MAX PARROT
With early voting already
underway for the Nov.
5 Queens district attorney
race, the Queens County
Democratic Party gathered
its ranks at a pre-election
cocktail party at Antun’s
in Queens Village on Tuesday
night to broadcast the
importance of getting out to
vote.
With a full dinner spread
and open bar, the event’s
mood was more social outing
than policy exchange. Its
speakers all addressed the
importance of party unity
in the face of Trump and the
task of bringing new voters
into the fold.
Then, in the final moments
of what was otherwise
a boilerplate party
huddle, Congressman and
Party Chair Gregory Meeks
brought up a contentious
point that has been simmering
among a leftwing contingent
of the party’s base: his
views on the role of district
leader.
Meeks took a hard stand
against district leader challengers,
calling for the evening’s
attendees to help fund
incumbents in the volunteer
party role to help them defeat
any primary challengers
in 2020.
The timing was not incidental.
Last week, the New
Reformers, a progressive
PAC aimed at running candidates
to challenge incumbents
for the district leader
position, hosted a packed
fundraiser in Kew Gardens.
The conflict over the
position reflects a growing
split within the Queens
Democratic Party about how
to respond to members of the
party calling for reform.
The party’s speakers —
Meeks, Mayor Bill de Blasio,
District Leader Anthony
Andrews, and DA candidate
and Borough President Melinda
Katz — all mentioned
the importance of getting
out to vote in Queens, a sore
point after a particularly low
turnout in the June primary
for district attorney. Of the
766,107 enrolled Democratic
voters in the borough, only
85,447 (11 percent) voted.
Intra-party tension has
sprouted from how to incorporate
the borough’s recently
activated block of progressive
voters– some of whom
would like to make the way
the party elects its officials
more accessible. This is
compounded by the likelihood
that the 2020 elections
will draw a greater group of
voters than the party’s reliable
base.
“We’re going to see the
largest election turnout in
our lifetime in 2020,” Mayor
de Blasio said in his speech.
Rockaway Councilman
Donovan Richards told QNS
he agreed with this opinion,
saying that he thinks anti-
Trump sentiment will motivate
a lot of people to come
out. But he added that the
party needs to confront the
question of how to sustain
that energy.
“How do we hold on to
that? How do we engage
the electorate?” Richards
asked.
In his remarks at the end
of the party, Meeks made
it clear that he does not approve
of district leader campaigns
as a way to harness
this new energy.
In his closing speech, he
called every district leader
at the party to the front of
the stage.
“We’ve got to make sure
that we come together in
2020 that they get re-elected,”
Meeks said. “I want to
make sure we are raising
money for these leaders.”
He denounced the notion
that the county party
is a machine — a label that
many of the New Reformers
organizers use to describe
it. To illustrate his point, he
described the district leaders
on the stage as “people
who have focused their lives
to the betterment of Queens
County.”
As Meeks spoke, he became
increasingly excited,
raising his voice louder and
louder.
“This organization takes
a backseat to no one. We’re
not gonna to allow anyone to
bully us. We’re gonna show
you, so come on with it,” he
said. In response to QNS’s
reporting on the Meek’s remarks,
the New Reformers
sent out a statement saying
that they are “happy
to see the leadership of the
Democratic Organization of
Queens County notice our
efforts to support new candidates
for district leader.”
The New Reformers denied
that their goal was to
attack party leadership,
instead claiming that they
simply want to bolster participatory
democracy.
“This means standing up
to the type of antidemocratic
practices in which party
leaders can sometimes engage,”
their statement read.
Meeks rebukes district leader challengers
Rep. Greg Meeks calls all the incumbent district leaders to
the stage at the Queens Democrats’ pre-election party.
Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
ELECTION 2019
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