The political arena is set for the statewide candidates for the positions of governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller.
Since the Democrats are in control of all the statewide offices, let’s begin with that party, which outnumbers Republicans by a two-to-one margin statewide.
In the Democratic corner were the state committee of delegates who chose three women and a man at the OnCenter Carrier Theater in Syracuse. The setting was uninspiring and the seating was tight for the one-day gathering, with some convention-goers opting to sit in the lobby rather than in their cramped spaces. (The print media were also confined to the lobby.) There were no signs with county names on them, which made for a lackluster feeling during the seemingly endless but necessary speeches. The voting was done electronically as opposed to by a slow roll call where the party faithful from each county give brief 10-second remarks to show their support from a county committee for a candidate.
As expected, for the post of governor, incumbent Kathy Hochul, 67, a Buffalo native, was chosen to run for another term. She bested her own number two, Lt. Governor Antonio Delgado, 49, of Rhinebeck, Dutchess County, with more than 85 percent of the convention’s weighted vote. After the Working Families Party decided to nominate placeholders instead of choosing sides, Delgado was KO’d. With the two conventions concluded, he has since dropped out of the race to challenge Hochul.
For lieutenant governor, former New York City Council President Adrienne Adams, 65, of Queens, bested Delgado’s chosen running mate India Walton, 43, of Buffalo, who only garnered 14.7 percent of the weighted vote.
A candidate needs at least 25 percent of the convention vote in order to gain automatic ballot access and avoid the expensive process of petitioning across the state that few can afford to accomplish.
Up next was the nomination for attorney general. Incumbent Letitia James, 67, won the right to battle for another term, as she was chosen by acclamation with no opponent to challenge her. James, a Baptist, resides in the Clinton Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn and was never married.
Incumbent New York State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli, 72, in office since 2007, resides in Great Neck Plaza, Nassau County. Like James, he is single and has no children. He received 90 percent of the weighted vote for the party’s designation from state committee members, versus 10 percent for Drew Warshaw, a nonprofit CEO and former chief of staff for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Warshaw is the only Jewish candidate seeking statewide office on the Democratic ticket. He has vowed to circulate petitions to gain ballot access. Asked for comment by this reporter, he would not reveal anything about his Jewish background or affiliation. So much for transparency.
Besides Warshaw, there are at least two other candidates jumping on the bandwagon in the race for comptroller. Both are expecting to garner enough support by circulating petitions across the state.
Raj Goyle, 50, lives in Lower Manhattan with his wife and two children. His parents moved from Bathinda, India to Rochester, N.Y. in 1971. He served four years in the Kansas state house before moving to Lower Manhattan. He serves as co-chair of the 5BORO Institute in New York City, a non-partisan policy organization.
Adem Bunkeddeko, 38, the son of Ugandan refugees who is Muslim, also wants to unseat DiNapoli. He has made two unsuccessful bids for Congress in central Brooklyn against incumbent Yvette Clarke. He and his wife live in Crown Heights.
In the Republican corner, the GOP had an uplifting convention spread over two days. The convention was held at the Garden City Hotel in Nassau County. A huge blow-up elephant, the symbol of the GOP, greeted conventioneers and guests at the entrance to the hotel. Armed guards, undercover police, and metal detectors also greeted attendees before they could enter the convention floor, which was festooned with modern-day technology, comfortable settings for the media, and county signage to increase pride among the state committee attendees.
Unlike with the Democrats, there was little controversy during the nominating convention. There were challenges against favored candidates, but when the votes fell short, the unsuccessful challenger supported the party’s candidate.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, 70, won the nomination for governor. He is a member of the Jewish Center of Atlantic Beach, a modern Orthodox synagogue. Blakeman, the fourth Jewish candidate for governor (two served as chief executive), told The Jewish Press, “I am proud to be Jewish. I am not Orthodox. I belong to an Orthodox synagogue. They call me AOB. You have AOC in the Democratic Party. I am ‘Almost Orthodox Blakeman.’ I don’t observe the Sabbath as far as not doing my official duties or working in political campaigns. I do work on those days. I keep kosher in my home. I am not kosher outside of my home but I do not eat pork or shellfish.”
Madison County Sheriff Todd Hood, 57, was chosen for lieutenant governor. He is a resident of the city of Oneida, married and the father of three children.
Saritha Komatireddy, 41, is the Republican candidate for attorney general. Komatireddy was born to doctors who immigrated to the United States from Telangana, India. She is a former federal prosecutor in the Eastern District of New York.
The convention was thrown into a bit of excitement with a potential primary battle. Unlike the Democrats who threw their support behind James by acclamation, an attorney from Brooklyn, Khurram Dara, briefly tried to challenge Komatireddy, but fell short, receiving less than the 25 percent of the delegate vote to gain ballot access. Dara, or KD as he is known, garnered 13.7 percent to Komatireddy’s 86.3 percent. He graciously bowed out, and, like a mensch, congratulated Komatireddy at the convention.
Finally, born in Camaguey, Cuba, serial entrepreneur Joseph Hernandez, 53, won the nomination for state comptroller by acclamation. The Cuban refugee currently serves as the founder and senior managing partner of Blue Water Venture Partners LLC, where he continues to invest in innovations that improve public health, accelerate scientific discovery, and address critical human diseases, according to his website.
At the Republican convention, besides Blakeman, there were many Jewish connections, including the opening prayer given by Rabbi Anchelle Perl, director of the Mineola Chabad.
Rabbi Perl ended his prayer with these words: “May our leaders be guided by moral clarity and common sense. May they work to keep our community safe, our families strong and our freedom secure. Please protect our country, our state and all those who protect and serve. He who makes peace in His heavens, may He make peace for us, for our country and for all mankind. Let us all say Amen.”
Yaron Levy, a native of Sydney, Australia, a former Israeli police officer, and an ordained rabbi, now serves as a town councilman in North Hempstead’s District 5. He is a congregant at the modern Orthodox Great Neck synagogue where he serves on the synagogue’s board of trustees. He provided the closing prayer for the first day of the convention, focusing his remarks on freedom.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to gather openly and to stand firmly for the principles that unite us. Individual liberty, personal responsibility, strong families, safe communities and a government that serves the people,” he said. Speaking about elected leaders, he added, “May they always remember that leadership is not about power but about self-sacrifice.”
The closing prayer of the convention was provided by Rabbi Mordechai Kamenetzky, the rosh yeshiva at the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett, Nassau County.
In a recorded video message shown at the convention, President Donald Trump endorsed the candidacy of Blakeman and the Republican slate of candidates. Former Long Island Congressman Peter King and former Governor George Pataki also had prominent speaking roles. The last Republican attorney general, Dennis Vacco of Buffalo, sent his regrets for not being able to attend. The Erie County Republican Chairman Michael Kracker read a statement from Vacco supporting Blakeman and the GOP candidates. Nassau County Legislator Mazi Pilip of Great Neck gave a seconding speech for Blakeman.
The State Conservative Party fell in lockstep with the Republican Party-nominated candidates. A few days prior to their nominating convention, the Conservatives held their political action conference in Albany.
Assemblyman Kalman Yeger, 51, a conservative Democrat, and New York City Councilwoman Inna Vernikov, 41, a conservative Republican, had a discussion about antisemitism and tamping down hate in our society.
“They’re not born with the knowledge of how to draw a swastika,” Yeger (D – East Midwood) said of young people. He said parents are not teaching their children to hate, but “they’re learning it from the public personas that they pay attention to. Whoever they may be, whether it’s politicians, whether it’s the media, whether it’s music figures,” he told the audience of about 150 conservatives. “It’s something they learned in the New York City public school system. It’s something they learn in CUNY (City University of New York). They are educated to hate. So, when we [say] ‘If only they had a little more education,’ [what] we really mean to say is they need to have a little less education on how to hate Jews.”
Vernikov (R – Sheepshead Bay) took aim at New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “He’s hyper-focused on the politics of Middle East and the State of Israel. I feel that it is my job, especially as someone who is a Jewish immigrant from the former Soviet Union, who understands the danger of antisemitism, to do everything I can to fight this guy’s policies, to fight his rhetoric and to stand up for the Jewish community,” said the Ukrainian-born Vernikov.
Working Families Party officials said at some point they would swap the placeholders with whomever the Democrats choose. Libertarian Larry Sharpe is said to be petitioning to try to get on the Republican ballot or run a quixotic campaign as a Libertarian.
We’ll find out who has been eliminated after the June 23 primary and November 3 general election. Let the politicking begin.