NYC ADA

1998 Election Report

Progressives won a number of victories in the 1998 election season. Besides the fact that the Democratic Party WON seats in a midterm election year with a Democratic President (in a year where many pundits predicted major wins for the conservative Right), there were some "close races" which turned out to be Democratic landslides, and some "safely Republican" areas which turned out to be close races. Here's a short summary of how New York progressives fared:
 

Governor : Incumbent Republican George Pataki won handily, although with a lower percentage of the vote than Schumer.

 

Comptroller : Carl McCall won a landslide victory over challenger Bruce Blakeman.

 

Attorney General : Dennis Vacco has finally (as of December 14, 1998) conceded the election to challenger Eliot Spitzer, after long, drawn-out court battles. Spitzer looked to have won over incumbent Dennis Vacco, and indeed had announced victory, but the Attorney General refused for over a month to admit defeat. Spitzer beat Vacco by over 26,000 votes, but the Attorney General challenged the legality of the victory. He first challenged a huge percentage of minority ballots, then claimed that many 'dead people' had voted, and then attempted to implement a plan to search house-to-house with New York policemen in an effort to find illegal voters. The Attorney General claimed that aliens stole the election, and hoped to find a supposed 80,000 non-citizens who voted illegally for Eliot Spitzer. There is no apparent evidence for his claims, and indeed, the New York Times researched his claims and said they were unfounded. Many had predicted Dennis Vacco would win by at least 7 or 8 points, even on the eve of the election.

 

Senator : Charles Schumer crushed incumbent Senator Alfonse D'Amato by 8 points in an election that was considered to be a "close race".

 

Congress : All NYC ADA endorsed Congressmembers won handily.

 

State Legislature:

 

The Democrats won one seat in the Assembly, and broke even in the Senate.

Out of the six candidates we donated to in statewide races, five won.

Eric Schneiderman was elected to the State Senate to fill Franz Leichter's seat.

Ann Margaret Carrozza was re-elected to the Assembly.

Vincent Gentile was re-elected to the State Senate.

Naomi Matusow was re-elected to the Assembly.

Kevin Cahill was elected to the Assembly.

 
The Giuliani-sponsored Charter Amendment, which we opposed, was adopted. See the main page for Chapter President Marvin Rich's testimony on the Charter Commission.
 
Also at stake this election were several "third-party" ballot lines. The Independence party, through the campaign of businessman Tom Golisano, took the coveted third slot on the ballot, trailed by the Liberal, Conservative, and Right-to-Life Parties. The Green Party also succeeded in getting a ballot line by running popular actor Al "Grandpa Munster" Lewis.
 
The fledgling Working Families Party, a party formed by progressive, pro-union interests, has just announced that it received the 50,000 votes required for a ballot line! NYC ADA donated to the Working Families Party, and supported the cause.
 
Many smaller parties in New York (particularly the Liberal, Conservative, and Right-to-Life) use their status to cross-endorse major party candidates and thus promote their agendas. Under New York State law, a party needs 50,000 votes to qualify for a regular party line on the ballot. The Freedom Party lost its party status due to a failure to create a party organization.

 

See our 1998 endorsements.

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