Rep. Carolyn Maloney is telling voters to reelect her in New York’s 12th Congressional District over fellow Democrat Jerrold Nadler because serving in Congress is “a woman’s job.”
Maloney and Nadler were forced into an Aug. 23 member versus member primary by New York’s new congressional maps, which were drawn by a special master after the state’s high court threw out a pro-Democrat gerrymander. Nadler currently represents Manhattan’s Upper West Side, while Maloney represents the Upper East Side. Both representatives were first elected to Congress in 1992 and chair committees.
In her first campaign ad, released Monday, Maloney notes the Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence, parental leave, and gay marriage as issues animating her career in Congress and the New York City Council. (RELATED: Top House Democrat Who Fought To ‘Cancel Rent’ Made Hundreds Of Thousands On Rental Properties)
“Being at the forefront of women’s rights has taught me that we can fight back and win, if we just don’t quit,” Maloney says.
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“I approve this message because it also taught me, you can not send a man to do a woman’s job,” she concludes.
Nadler has also appealed to identity politics in the primary, citing his status as the last Jewish member of New York City’s congressional delegation. One fundraising request from the Nadler campaign claims that he “lives and breathes Tikkun Olam,” which refers to “any activity that repairs the world,” according to Chabad. The New York City metropolitan area is home to more than 2.1 million Jews, making it the second-most Jewish city in the world behind only Tel Aviv.
“It would be very unfortunate if there was no Jewish representation from New York,” Nadler told The Washington Post. “As it would if there was no Latino representation or no Black representation.”
The New York state assembly initially drew a Tenth District designed to insulate Nadler from a serious primary or general election challenge and force Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis into a competitive race. That district would have snaked all the way from South Brooklyn to the Upper West Side.
Democrats hold a 68-point advantage in the current Twelfth District, according to FiveThirtyEight.
The independently-drawn map forced a game of musical chairs between New York City Democrats. Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Sean Patrick Maloney declared in Rep. Mondaire Jones’ Seventeenth District, forcing Jones to declare in the Tenth. In response, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed a left-wing challenger to Maloney, and former New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio dropped out of the Tenth’s race.