You all know that incumbent state senator Kevin Parker (21SD) is in the fight of his political life, as he tries to fend off challenges from council members Stewart and Felder in what is turning out to be a relatively quiet race so far (surprisingly). Parker is being tested again because he doesn’t how to not make enemies; while Stewart is testing whether or not the fallout from the legal woes of two of his staffers is politically fatal. Felder is just testing the waters; trying to turn a single hit in 2001 into a double in 2008. He is looking to steal second base so to speak. In baseball terms: he is running both fast and hard.
All three campaigns are expressing confidence that victory is assured; two of these campaigns will be wrong. I think that although this race is up for grabs: I have a strong sense of who the winner will be. I will predict the winner in a column I will post on the day of the election. Until then I will keep that to myself. And by the way: I have cancelled the bet I earlier made on the outcome of this race. Betting publicly on elections is illegal, and after all, I am a law abiding citizen.
Despite their political differences, all three candidates share one thing in common: the belief that Congressman Ed Towns should be re-elected. On Wednesday, Kevin Parker endorsed Towns on the steps of Borough Hall. They tell me that Marty Markowitz was also there to endorse Ed Towns; along with assembly members Karim Camara, Darryl Towns and Hakeem Jeffries. Also there (I am told) were state senators John Sampson and Eric Adams.
Simcha Felder is looking to follow suit soon. He told me in an interview recently that he will be endorsing the congressman as soon as the venue is worked out. A few weeks ago, Dr. Kendall Stewart told me that he (too) will be endorsing the congressman, when I interviewed him relative to the congressman’s immigration proposal. Stewart, who is the head of the NYC council’s sub-committee on immigration, had lauded the Towns proposal for a commission to take over the issue, despite reservations that this congress had missed the bus. And speaking of buses: did you see Stewart’s political ads prominently featured at the back of some MTA buses in Brooklyn? The last candidate to do this was Uncle Roy in 2005. Stewart needs to check Roy’s results.
Last week former NYC mayor Ed Koch also endorsed Ed Towns. Former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is also expected to endorse him soon. What can be gleaned from all these endorsements is the fact that Kevin Powell -who is opposing Towns this year’s primary- has only secured one endorsement from an elected official: Charles Barron. Two years ago when Barron challenged Towns, he failed to secure any endorsements from fellow electeds. At least Kevin is one up on Charles.
Stay tuned-in folks.