WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 28, 2020 11
Queens political candidates ‘leaning on creativity’
in adapting campaigns during COVID-19 pandemic
BY JACOB KAYE
JKAYE@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
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. A
s many candidates running for offi
ce have come to believe, the COVID-19
crisis has only amplifi ed the issues they
were fi ghting 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 clarifi ed 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 fl yers
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
fi rst-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
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
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 fi rst thing that changed is that
we focused on getting emergency supplies
to individuals,” Miranda said.
The former president of the National
Latino Offi cers 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 Terranova, 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
fi ghting 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 fi ghting 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 shift ed 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 fi ght 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.”
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