This can't be good news for Democratic candidate Steve Harrison, running in NY-13 to replace disgraced republican Vito Fossella. From The Hill:
Rep. Charles Rangel and other New York House Democrats endorsed City Councilor Mike McMahon on Wednesday in the race to replace outgoing Rep. Vito Fossella (R).
“This year, we have an historic opportunity to turn the last Republican congressional district in New York City Democratic,” Rangel and 11 other House Democrats from New York City said in a statement obtained by The Hill.
The DCCC is taking sides as well.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen (Md.), the chairman of the Democrats’ House campaign effort, will appear with McMahon at City Hall in Lower Manhattan on Saturday, according to a Democratic source.
To name some names:
The other Gotham Democrats to endorse include Gary Ackerman, Yvette Clarke, Joseph Crowley, Eliot Engel, Carolyn Maloney, Carolyn McCarthy, Gregory Meeks, Jerrold Nadler, José Serrano, Edolphus Towns and Anthony Weiner.
You don't get these eleven people onto the same page without quite a few phone calls, so it's logical to deduce that this endorsement has been a while in preparation. Combined with the Staten Island and Brooklyn machine endorsements, Harrison now realistically has a much steeper road to climb against McMahon.
What's irksome, of course, is that Mike McMahon recently made the news for voicing pro-war sentiments to Mike Long's little outfit. Also note that there's a name missing from the eleven above: Nydia Velasquez, Chair of the House Progressive Caucus.
We may just be in for a really unhelpful fistfight between anti-war Democrats and the party establishment. Not good.
