Bklyn Dems taking over in House
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Two Brooklyn pols are in the
House — and about to control
it!
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries
(D–Canarsie) on Nov. 28 took
on a new powerful role as the
chairman of House Democratic
Caucus following his
reelection to a fourth term
earlier this month, when voters
across the country fl ipped
the balance of power in Congress’s
lower chamber by voting
in some 234 Dems to some
199 Republicans.
Jeffries bested his opponent,
the former Congressional
Black Caucus chairwoman
Rep. Barbara Lee (D–California),
raking in 123 of his
colleagues’ votes to Lee’s 113,
according to an NBC report .
The position opened up after
Queens Congresswoman–
elect Alexandria Ocasio-
Cortez ousted powerful Rep.
Joe Crowley, who currently
chairs the caucus, from his
seat in a stunning Democratic
primary upset last June.
Some insiders fl oated
Crowley as a potential successor
to House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi before his
primary defeat.
It remains to be seen
whether Jeffries will vie for
an even higher offi ce in the future.
The 48-year-old announced
his candidacy earlier this
month before pols and leaders
at the Somos conference in
Puerto Rico, reported City and
State New York.
And the congressman’s
colleague and fellow Brooklynite,
Rep. Jerrold Nadler
(D–Red Hook), a vocal critic of
President Trump , is poised
to take over the House Judiciary
Committee — a panel
that can initiate impeachment
proceedings — when his party
takes control of the chamber
in January.
COURIER L 22 IFE, DEC. 7–13, 2018 M B G
• • •
The race for Public Advocate
is growing ever more
crowded after two more
Brooklyn candidates threw
their hats in the ring.
Councilman Rafael Espinal
(D–Bushwick) and
Assemblywoman Latrice
Walker (D–Brownsville) on
Nov. 28 announced that they
are vying for the seat that
some of Espinal’s fellow legislators
want to abolish .
Their announcements
came weeks after Espinal’s
colleague, Councilman Jumaane
Williams (D–Flatbush),
declared his candidacy
in October, following his
failed primary campaign to
become the Democratic nominee
for New York State Lieutenant
Governor.
Espinal, Walker, and Williams
are just three of several
hopefuls — including
Councilman Eric Ulrich (RQueens),
former Democratic
Council Speaker Melissa
Mark-Viverito, and activist
and journalist Nomiki Konst
— who have formally declared
they want to succeed Public
Advocate Letitia James,
who is headed to Albany in
January as New York State’s
fi rst black attorney general after
cruising to victory in November.
On Nov. 26, the Brooklyn
Reform Party hosted the borough’s
fi rst Public Advocate
forum, which featured mostly
outsider candidates, such as
Konst, stumping at Bklyn’s
Pizza in Dyker Heights.
Mayor DeBlasio will call
a special election — the fi rst
ever non-partisan, citywide
election — to fi ll the seat in
early 2019.
• • •
And they’re off!
Two newly elected state
pols recently announced the
transition teams that will help
the political newcomers prepare
to take offi ce before the
Legislature convenes in Albany
in January.
Freshman Assemblywoman
Mathylde Frontus
(D–Coney Island) — who assumed
offi ce in Albany ahead
of schedule last month due
to her seat being vacant after
her disgraced predecessor,
Pamela Harris, resigned
in April — corralled some
33 staffers for her transition
team, led by her chief of staff
Mike DeCillis.
DeCillis earlier this year
lost to Congressman–elect
Max Rose in the June Democratic
congressional primary,
and Rose went on to oust Republican
incumbent Rep. Dan
Donovan from his seat representing
Bay Ridge and Staten
Island in November’s general
election.
And Andrew Gounardes
— who knocked long-time GOP
state Sen. Marty Golden
from his seat of 16 years in November
— revealed his transition
team, a bipartisan group
chaired by Dyker Heights District
Leader Tori Kelly.
Gounardes’s 54-person
team also includes Councilmen
Justin Brannan (D–Bay
Ridge), Alan Maisel (D–Marine
Park), Brooklyn Reform
Party chairman and Courier
Life columnist Bob Capano,
and former Brooklyn Republican
Party Chairman Craig
Eaton.
PARTY LINE
TALKING BORO POLITICS
WITH KEVIN DUGGAN
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