| It's no secret that if Carolyn Maloney decides to primary Senator Gillibrand next year as expected, she'll need to give up running for reelection to her House seat to do so. With the near certainty that Maloney is going to announce, speculation is already buzzing about who will want to replace her.
An article at Roll Call (subscription only, I'm afraid) points out that excluding special elections, this would be the first open-seat House race in Manhattan since 1976, meaning that competition would be fierce and fundraising would be fiercer. The article mentions a laundry list of potential candidates, some of which have already bowed out: a family spokesman today said on behalf of Karenna Gore Schiff, the eldest daughter of former Vice President Al Gore, that Schiff was not interested in possibly running. Schiff's only previous political experience was as Youth Outreach Chair for her father's 2000 Presidential campaign.
One of the other potential candidates, one widely talked about by the party base, is current State Senator Liz Krueger. Popular with the activists and netroots for her steadfast support of gay marriage (something Rep. Maloney hasn't supported) and transparency reform in the State Senate, Krueger is speculated to be able to partially self-finance, although to what extent is unclear.
Krueger would have somewhat of an uphill battle within the party machine, since she's known to be on less than entirely fond terms with Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver... which knowing Silver could only further endear her to the netroots.
The Roll Call article goes on to present a laundry list of potential candidates out of the Assembly, State Senate, city council, and elsewhere. One thing is for sure, when and if Maloney runs there's going to be no shortage of people looking to represent her district. |
