NY Dems sending cash and troops to LI battlegrounds

Daily Point

Gillen-D'Esposito CD4 race a prime target

A memo released Monday by the state Democratic Party outlining its effort to "reclaim the House majority" represents a goal state chair Jay Jacobs says he’s advocated for ever since he first took the role in 2009.

The idea of having the state party take an active role in federal and state contests other than gubernatorial races is nothing new. But, Jacobs told the Point, it wasn’t something former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who first took office in 2011, ever supported. Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi, however, told Politico’s New York Playbook that under the former governor, the state party had indeed supported other races, including sinking $2 million into ads for State Senate races.

Jacobs said he talked with Hochul about the idea "within weeks" of her becoming governor after Cuomo resigned. And the party, Jacobs said, did open field offices and provide personnel, volunteers and money, for the 2022 races that followed.

That wasn’t enough at the time.

But Jacobs, also the Nassau County chair, said this is the first time in recent memory that the state party is playing a role in an election year that doesn’t involve a gubernatorial race at all.

The memo said the campaign will mount an effort worth more than $5 million, with more than 80 staff members on the ground by mid-August and 35 field offices opened. The memo said the focus will be to "protect our two swing-state Democratic incumbents and flip five Republican-held seats."

Twelve of those campaign offices will be located on Long Island, in key spots in CD1, where Democrat John Avlon will compete against Republican Rep. Nick LaLota; CD3, where Democrat incumbent Tom Suozzi will face Republican Mike LiPetri; and CD4, where Democrat Laura Gillen will face Rep. Anthony D’Esposito. GOP incumbent Andrew Garbarino in CD2 is considered an overwhelming favorite in the heavily Republican district.

Gillen opened one of the first state offices in Hempstead on July 20 with Rep. Greg Meeks, the chair of the Queens Democratic Party, and the area’s Assembly candidate, Noah Burroughs, and State Senate candidate Siela Bynoe.

Those three Long Island races are among seven statewide on which the party is focused; the others are CD17, CD18, CD19 and CD22. Jacobs noted that CD3 is a "much safer seat" after redistricting, and Suozzi can run as an incumbent after winning a tough special election in February to fill out the term of George Santos.

CD1 "is an uphill climb but doable, and under the right circumstances, we can win there," Jacobs said, noting it needed people, money and resources. "Then you’ve got 4, where the [registration] numbers favor us and I think we’ve got work to do but that’s one we should try to pick up." CD4 is considered by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as one of the seats to flip from red to blue.

"Unless I see some major Republican investment in trying to take 3, my attention will be more on 1 and 4," Jacobs told The Point.

Jacobs specifically pointed to the need to get out the vote in minority communities. CD4’s state field offices are planned for Elmont, the village of Hempstead, Valley Stream, the Rockville Centre/Baldwin area, and one along the South Shore.

But one Democratic source noted that while the field offices, personnel and money certainly help, they weren’t the main factor behind the party’s 2022 losses, and they won’t be the central factor behind how the party does in 2024, either.

"It was not a lack of resources. It was about Kathy Hochul’s campaign and her failure to address crime," the source told The Point. "The difference now is we have a national message. In 2024, it’s the presidential race that drowns out everything. That’s the big advantage for Democrats in swing districts. The nightmare for Democrats in swing districts was Hochul and bail reform."

And, the source noted, the top of the ticket — whether Hochul in 2022 or now, the shift from President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris — matters, too.

"Now we’re building a strong campaign driven by the top of the ticket," the source said. "That’s important."

— Randi F. Marshall randi.marshall@newsday.com

Pencil Point

The other races

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Quick Points

Climatic conclusion

• Gov. Kathy Hochul said New York is going to miss its 2030 climate goals on getting energy from renewable sources — which was pretty much a foregone conclusion long before she said it.
• One way to lament the climate crisis is to note that Earth broke its record for highest average daily temperature twice this month and came close on several other occasions. Another way is to note that this might be the coolest July for the rest of our lives.
• Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg clashed with a Fox News host over charges that before President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Vice President Kamala Harris kept quiet amid concerns about Biden’s age and mental wellness. Give Mayor Pete credit for standing up for Harris, but she did keep quiet.
• A rocket strike Israel blamed on Hezbollah killed at least 11 children and teens on a soccer field in the Israeli-held Golan Heights. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not call for the eradication of Hezbollah, which says something about the strength of Hezbollah.
• Usha Vance, the wife of GOP vice presidential candidate JD Vance, once told friends that former President Donald Trump "appalled" her. Now that she’s working to help the ticket get elected, it appears she might have made the same kind of calculated turnaround as her formerly appalled husband.
• Billy Joel played his 150th show at Madison Square Garden, which also ended his 10-year residency there, telling the crowd, "It’s time." Fans who bought 1.9 million tickets during that run would disagree.

— Michael Dobie michael.dobie@newsday.com

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