Proudly standing with former Queens D.A. candidate Tiffany Caban at the Aug. 8 event, were Arena members Liuba Grechen Shirley, the founder
of Vote Mama, who ran against Congressmember Peter King, left, and Monica Klein, founder of Seneca Strategies, a political consulting firm.
Clinton warns of G.O.P. ‘voter suppression’
BY LINCOLN ANDERSON
Hillary Clinton told a gathering of young Democrats
in Lower Manhattan two weeks ago
that “voter suppression” by the Republicans
will be more extreme than ever before in the 2020
presidential election.
An enthusiastic crowd of members of Arena — an
organization promoting young progressive candidates
to “jump into the arena” and run for offi ce — convened
at Convene, at 32 Old Slip, on Aug. 8 to hear
Clinton’s remarks.
The former secretary of state said she was “optimistic”
after seeing the work of Arena and similar groups
that have launched in the wake of Donald Trump’s
winning the presidency.
Arena runs a “training academy” to help get people
involved in political campaigns.
“But,” Clinton added, “I also have to say I’m also
realistic about what we’re up against.”
She noted, to laughter from the crowd, that she had
met with “18 or 20 or so of the candidates” running
for the Democratic nomination.
“I told them that,” she said, “based on my own experiences,
you could not only win the nomination,
you could win the popular vote, but not get the job
because of all these other forces and activities we are
up against.
“Voter suppression is going to be even worse coming
up in 2020,” she warned, pointedly. “It will absolutely
be front and center.”
The former New York senator predicted with assurance
that the Republicans will resort to “the misuse
of information, whether it is online propaganda,
disinformation.”
“I believe that the other side is really geared to do
PHOTO BY JENNIFER FRIEDMANN / ARENA
Hillary Clinton addressing Arena members in
the Financial District on Thurs., Aug. 8.
that,” she asserted. “And I think we’re going to face
even more doubts about our electoral machinery.”
In addition, in the wake of the previous weekend’s
mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, Clinton
slammed Republicans for continuing to stand in the
way of sensible gun control.
“The refusal of the other party to step up and take
responsibility for keeping people safe is outrageous,”
PHOTO BY JENNIFER FRIEDMANN / ARENA
she declared.
Clinton said political change won’t come overnight,
but will take a long, determined slog, or, as she put it,
“the hard boring of hard boards.”
“It doesn’t happen overnight,” she said. “It happens
day after day.”
Also speaking at the event was Tiffany Caban, who
had conceded the Queens district attorney Democratic
primary race to Melinda Katz the day before,
as well as Comptroller Scott Stringer and Council
Speaker Corey Johnson, plus Alvin Bragg, a candidate
for Manhattan district attorney. Bragg is a visiting
professor at New York University School of Law
and co-director of its Racial Justice Project.
Chris Marte, the Lower East Side Democratic
State Committeeman for the 65th District, who leads
Arena’s New York community and candidate support,
also gave remarks.
“The event was a great success with over 300 people
in attendance,” Marte said.
“It was the fi rst public appearance from Tiffany Caban
since her concession speech, and Alvin Bragg’s
fi rst public speech as a Manhattan D.A. candidate.
“In addition to having the frontrunners of the mayoral
race, Scott Stringer and Corey Johnson, Hillary
topped off the night by inspiring everyone to remain
engaged in politics and build the Democratic bench
for staffers to take on Trump in 2020.
“In addition, it was the launch of our Five Borough
Future Project, which is a three-part program to write
bold polices, train the future staffers of New York
City progressive campaigns, and educate individuals
on how to achieve government reform and claw back
power to New York City from Albany.”
22 August 22 - September 4, 2019 MEX Schneps Media