14 THE QUEENS COURIER • 2020 PREVIEW • JANUARY 2, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
2020 preview
Photo: Max Parrott/QNS
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.
What to know about the upcoming special
election for Queens Borough President
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
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 “left -wing 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.
Th at became clear Monday 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.
Th e Richards endorsement came a week
aft er 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, Tiff any
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 farleft
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 fl ashpoint
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 aft er 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 Offi cers
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 aft er Katz
leaves Borough Hall. Insiders expect that
date to fall on Tuesday, March 24, but that
is up to City Hall.
link
/WWW.QNS.COM
link
