Democrat Noncommittal on Pelosi #NY11 | The Candidate

Recchia, above, is challenging Grimm. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)

Editor’s Note: Every year, scores of congressional candidates visit the CQ Roll Call offices to meet with reporters and Contributing Editor Stuart Rothenberg. This new feature, “The Candidate,” will ask these congressional hopefuls five questions about their campaigns. Responses and questions have been edited and condensed.

Have a question for a candidate? We’ll announce their visits via Twitter, and you can tweet your inquiry to @RollCall or email politics@cqrollcall.com.

The candidate: New York City Council Member Domenic M. Recchia Jr.
The member: Two-term Rep. Michael G. Grimm, R-N.Y.
The district: Nearly three-quarters of this district is in Staten Island, but it also crosses New York Harbor into Brooklyn. President Barack Obama won the 11th District’s vote 52 percent to 47 percent, but Grimm won the seat by 7 points.
The candidate’s team: Jefrey Pollock of Global Strategy Group (polling); the rest of the team has yet to be announced.

1. You raised $412,000 last quarter. How much will you need to compete in the New York City media market?

Four million dollars.

2. You live in Brooklyn, but a majority of voters in this district live on Staten Island. How do you bridge that divide? 

It’s not a question of Brooklyn versus Staten Island. It’s a question of the whole district is going to be represented by someone who is out there that understands the issues, who’s going to stand up for the middle class … who has a record of delivering four [city] budgets on time without raising taxes, prevented firehouses from being closed on Staten Island, working with the people, and is able to bring the resources that are needed to Staten Island.

My family lives on Staten Island. My mother lives there. My three sisters live there. My nieces and nephews. I talk to people every day. My father built on Staten Island before the bridge was up. I have a lot of contacts with Staten Island.

[After the jump: Recchia on former Rep. Anthony Weiner's mayoral campaign and his favorite Coney Island ride.]

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DCCC Courts Donors at Annual Issues Conference

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee hosted its third annual New York Issues Conference on Saturday, featuring access to top lawmaker panels for its supporters.

The event, a brainchild of DCCC Chairman Steve Israel of New York, is intended to fete committee donors from Capitol Hill to the Empire State. House candidates attended as well, one Democrat in attendance said.

New York Rep. Carolyn McCarthy spoke on gun violence, and House Democratic Caucus Chairman Xavier Becerra and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, both of California, talked about immigration, according to a copy of the agenda obtained by CQ Roll Call. Full story

New York: Recchia Meets With DCCC Officials to Plot Grimm Challenge

Israel met with a recruit this week to discuss his challenge to a New York Republican representative. (Douglas Graham/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Updated 4:26 p.m. | A trio of top-ranking Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee officials huddled with New York City Councilman Domenic Recchia on Thursday to plan a challenge to Rep. Michael G. Grimm, R-N.Y.

According to a senior national Democratic strategist, Recchia met in Washington with two fellow New Yorkers, DCCC Chairman Steve Israel and Rep. Jerrold Nadler, as well as DCCC Recruitment Chairwoman Donna Edwards.

They discussed strategy and Recchia’s “path to victory” in New York’s 11th District, the source said. Recchia declared his candidacy in mid-February. Full story

Mixed Verdict in New York House Races

Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle lost her re-election race Tuesday night. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

Both Democratic and Republican Members of Congress were unseated Tuesday night in the House battleground state of New York.

Former Rep. Dan Maffei (D) unseated freshman Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R), just two years after Buerkle beat Maffei. With 91 percent of precincts reporting, Maffei had 50 percent to Buerkle’s 42 percent in the 24th district, according to the Associated Press.

Businessman and former Erie County Executive Chris Collins (R) beat Rep. Kathy Hochul (D) in the state’s most Republican district, the 27th. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Collins had 51 percent to Hochul’s 49 percent, the AP said.

And freshman Rep. Nan Hayworth (R) was unseated by attorney Sean Patrick Maloney (D) in the 18th district. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Hayworth had 48 percent to Maloney’s 51 percent, the AP said.

Other incumbents in tough races survived. Freshman Rep. Chris Gibson (R) will be coming back to Congress, despite a more Democratic district. Rep. Bill Owens (D) won a tight rematch against Republican investment banker Matt Doheney. Rep. Tim Bishop (D) won a rematch against Republican businessman Randy Altschuler. And freshman Rep. Michael Grimm (R) won an easy re-election in his Staten Island-anchored district.

New York Voters Compare New System to ‘Third-World Country’

Even as some New York City residents waited in lines to take buses to the polls, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said today there’s a bigger problem: the state’s new voting machines.

“The system that we now have in place, instead of you going to one place to get your card and then into a booth, you go to one place, you get a folder, a card, a ballot, then you have to go to another place to fill it out while people look over your shoulder, then you’ve got to go to another place to stick that piece of paper into a scanning machine,” Bloomberg said at a news conference.

Bloomberg said he encountered delays and confusion at his own polling place today, with many voters unsure of the traffic flow to voting machines and the extra steps required to cast a ballot.

“They were just stunned, and I kept hearing, ‘What’s this, a third-world country?’” Bloomber said. “We did have machines incidentally that worked; they worked fine. You could go in, you closed the curtain behind you, you pulled the levers.”

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Andrew Cuomo Clears Way for Statewide Voting for Displaced New Yorkers

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) signed an executive order Monday allowing voters displaced by Hurricane Sandy to vote at any polling place in the state, with some limitations.

At a press conference late Monday, Cuomo announced that he would allow voters in affected areas to cast ballots by affidavit for president and statewide races at any polling place in the state. Voters using this option will not be able to vote in local races, including for Members of the House.

Unlike in New Jersey, New York voters will not be allowed to cast absentee ballots by email or fax.

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New York: Ed Koch Tells Obama to Go ‘Bold,’ Backs Charlie Rangel

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call)

NEW YORK — Former New York Mayor Ed Koch (D) strongly backed the re-election of Barack Obama in an interview Friday, but worried about the Democrat’s prospects if the president didn’t propose something big.

“Bold,” Koch explained. “That’s what’s required on the part of the president. Because there’s no question, at this moment, if Romney and he are neck and neck, which is what the polls show, the president is in trouble.” Full story

New York: Edolphus Towns Retiring After 15 Terms

(Scott J. Ferrell/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Updated 9:35 p.m. | A knowledgeable source confirmed to Roll Call that 15-term Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.), first elected in 1992, will retire at the end of the 112th Congress. The news was first reported by the New York Daily News tonight on Twitter.

Towns, 77, had faced a very serious primary challenge from state Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries, who is now the frontrunner for the safe Democratic seat, New York Democrats said. Also in the Democratic primary is New York City Councilman Charles Barron. One other name floated by a Big Apple Democrat as a potential candidate: state Sen. Kevin Parker.

Towns, a former chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, showed little appetite for campaigning this cycle, leading to growing local speculation that he might drop out of the race.

New York: Gillibrand Pitches for Hochul, Slaughter

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Popular Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand made an email fundraising pitch to her supporters Sunday for Democratic Reps. Kathy Hochul and Louise Slaughter. Full story

New York: Court-Drawn Congressional Map Adopted for 2012 Elections

UPDATED 5:35 p.m. | A federal three-judge panel begrudgingly adopted a court-drawn Congressional redistricting plan for New York, locking in lines for this November’s election after the perpetually deadlocked Empire State Legislature failed to fulfill its constitutional responsibility to update a map to reflect changes in population.

On March 12, federal Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann released a proposed map. In today’s opinion, the three-judge panel ordered the state of New York to adopt that plan “in its entirety.” The panel made tiny tweaks to Mann’s map in a few districts that won’t materially affect any candidates or political outcomes.

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New York: Gary Ackerman to Retire

(Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Updated 8:20 p.m. | Longtime New York Democratic Rep. Gary Ackerman will retire at the end of the 112th Congress, he announced tonight.

Ackerman, serving his 14th full term, represents portions of Queens and Long Island. But, in a redistricting map likely to become law, his district was essentially dismantled and his home was drawn into the same district as Rep. Steve Israel, the chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

Ackerman had earlier announced that if a map drawn by a court was to become law, he would run in the open 6th district. That proposed New York City majority-minority district is now an open seat, which leans heavily toward Democrats. Full story

New York: Redistricting End Is Nigh

UPDATED 4:25 p.m. | There’s a growing bipartisan sense in top political circles in New York that the Congressional redistricting map released by a federal judge late last night represents the final lines for the 2012 cycle.

Despite certain Democrats and Republicans pushing furiously for the Legislature to draw a map — one that creates a new majority-minority district in New York City or shores up Rep. Peter King (R) on Long Island or creates better districts for Reps. Kathy Hochul (D) and Chris Gibson (R) upstate — competing agendas make it more likely than not that the judge’s map will the final one.

“At this point, I’d be surprised if something other than this is” the map, said one national Republican familiar with New York redistricting. That’s a sentiment plugged-in Empire State Democrats echoed in interviews with Roll Call.

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New York: Judge Issues New — and Potentially Final — Congressional Lines

GOP Rep. Bob Turner is among the Members threatened under the proposed map. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call File Photo)

Updated 12:40 a.m. | A New York federal judge released a tweaked redistricting map late Monday night that closely resembled her earlier plan.

The new map, which could represent the final Empire State lines, imperils Reps. Kathy Hochul (D), Chris Gibson (R) and Bob Turner (R). It also leaves Rep. Gary Ackerman (D) with a tough election slog. Full story

New York: Redistricting Drama Rises Toward Crescendo

The disjointed, perpetually deadlocked, rumor-filled, agita-inducing drama of New York Congressional redistricting moves into its final act today, with the Legislature expected to submit proposed lines to a judge by midnight and a final map approved within less than a month.

Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann has ordered all the parties involved in a redistricting lawsuit, which include state Assembly and Senate Democrats and Republicans, to submit their proposed Congressional plans to the court by today, if they are submitting plans at all. With control of the Legislature split, the main plans are expected to be submitted by Democrats from the Assembly and Republicans in the Senate. The opposing sides reportedly remained deadlocked this morning. Full story

New York: Court Steps Into Redistricting Morass

A federal judge has begun the process of moving New York’s Congressional redistricting toward the courts.

In an order released Monday night, Brooklyn U.S. District Court Judge Dora Irizarry asked the chief judge of the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to appoint a three-judge panel to appoint a special master to draw Congressional lines. She cited the impending Congressional candidate petitioning process, set to begin on March 20, as an impetus for the ruling. Full story