NY-09: New York Times endorses Adem Bunkeddeko against incumbent Yvette Clarke

[RandySF]

DISTRICT 9 (Park Slope, Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Flatbush, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay and more): For nearly 14 years, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke has represented this large, vibrant area of Brooklyn. In 2018, we supported Adem Bunkeddeko, a talented challenger with ambitious plans for affordable housing who is back for a second try. This time, Isiah James, a promising young Army combat veteran and democratic socialist who has also promised to focus on housing, is in the race, too, though he has struggled with fund-raising. Another candidate, New York City Council member Chaim Deutsch, hasn’t shown up for the debates and is instead vying for votes with a campaign of fearmongering.

In 2018, Ms. Clarke barely won the primary race against Mr. Bunkeddeko, with 53 percent of the vote. In her current term, she has taken a more active role in her district, a welcome change.

But once again, Mr. Bunkeddeko represents the best chance at getting a more vibrant voice for the district. Mr. Bunkeddeko, 32, grew up in Queens and is focused on securing federal dollars for public and affordable housing. He also wants to create a federal program that would help moderate- and lower-income New Yorkers become homeowners, exactly the vision needed in the district and in Congress. As he put it, housing needs were “a five-alarm fire” even before the job losses of the coronavirus pandemic. He has also supported a public option for Medicare as a way to move toward Medicare for all.

His life story is inspiring. Mr. Bunkeddeko is the son of refugees from Uganda who has earned an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He has experience in government working for the Empire State Development Corporation, the state entity that helps drive economic investment into New York. He deserves the support of voters in the Ninth District.



https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/new-york-congress-endorsements.html?smid=tw-share

[OnDoutside]

1. There's a NYT pattern developing of backing Dem challengers

against Dem incumbents. Odd.

[Squinch]

2. Yep. And on thin and dopey reasoning. Ridiculous.

[Hortensis]

3. Of trying to oust strong liberal, valuable Democratic congressmen.

GovTrack.us rates her among the strongest liberals in the house Democratic caucus (6th percentile out of 235, also shown on the graph)

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/yvette_clarke/412221

In the 116th Congress, Congresswoman Clarke serves as:

Energy and Commerce Committee, Vice Chair
Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change
Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Homeland Security
Subcommittee on Border Security, Facilitation and Operations
Subcommittee on Emergency Preparedness, Response and Recovery
Congresswoman Clarke also serves on several House caucuses, including:

Smart Cities Caucus, Co-Chair
Multicultural Media Caucus, Co-Chair
Black Women & Girls Caucus, Co-Chair
Caribbean Caucus, Co-Chair
Congressional Progressive Caucus
Congressional Black Caucus
Immigration Task Force, Chair
Census 2020 Task Force

[Hortensis]

4. Challengers from the far left to take out strong house members.

Last edited Sun Jun 14, 2020, 07:19 AM - Edit history (1)

The NYT is clearly working to subvert the strength, and cohesion, of the currently strongly united liberal Democratic caucus. They're typically endorsing genuine dissident-left candidates, but this time they're backing the candidate most likely to displace a good, experienced Democrat.

After all, Mr. Bunkeddeko came very close in 2016. At that time he was assisted by "Wall Street dollars," as Politico put it, in 2016. This time The City reports:

... His website says he’s sworn off funding from “corporate PACs, lobbyists, and big real estate developers” ... Bunkeddeko also is embracing policies on the left wing of the party, like the Green New Deal. Yet his fundraising so far shows many of the same finance-industry donors are again backing Bunkeddeko — including Andrew Tisch of the Loews Corporation, Marc Kushner of Evercore and former schools chancellor Joel Klein.

Also giving the maximum $2,800 is Bradley Tusk, an adviser to Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign who is also an influential New York lobbyist, registered, state records show. In an interview with THE CITY, Bunkeddeko indicated he was not aware Tusk is still a lobbyist.

https://www.thecity.nyc/politics/2020/1/31/21210565/race-for-brooklyn-rep-yvette-clarke-s-house-seat-spans-democratic-spectrum

If the NYT could have highlighted that kind of false representation of who he is to the voters for Congresswoman Clarke, they would have. But they couldn't.

[RandySF]

5. The UAW also endorsed Bunkeddeko