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This belongs to you. Take it back...
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Mike McMahon 
Thu Oct 09, 2008 at 11:38:08 AM EDT
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If you needed further proof that Staten Island Republican candidate Bob Straniere is toast in NY-13, note that Republican borough president (and former Congressman) Guy Molinari is endorsing the Conservative Party candidate (from City Room via NY13 Blog):
"It's sad that I have to leave my party on a campaign like this," Mr. Molinari said in an interview this morning. He then criticized the party's chairman on Staten Island, John S. Friscia, for supporting Mr. Straniere's candidacy. "The leadership in the Republican Party has put forth a deeply flawed candidate, one that an awful lot of Republicans cannot support."
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Tue Oct 07, 2008 at 14:19:42 PM EDT
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( - promoted by phillip anderson)
Mike McMahon (D) is up on the air now with his first television ad, and the first of this cycle for any candidate. This is also the first Democratic television ad buy to my knowledge probably since the 1997 special election. Being in the NYC market my guess is this will be a cable buy. His opponent Bob Straniere has about $13,000 cash on hand and likely will not be able to respond.
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Wed Sep 24, 2008 at 17:50:16 PM EDT
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It's now official. GOP candidate Bob Straniere has officially declined the judicial nomination that was very shadily thrown his way on Monday night.
Bob Straniere really meant it when it said he didn't want to run for the state Supreme Court judgeship for which he was nominated by the Manhattan GOP Monday in a last-ditch attempt by supporters of Rep. Vito Fossella to enable him to seek re-election.
At of 3:02 p.m. Straniere officially declined the nomination, according to the city Board of Elections. He filled out a certificate of declination and signed it.
Until he did so, he was on the GOP line for two different offices in three different boroughs (counting the little sliver of Brooklyn that's in the 13th CD). He is now merely a congressional candidate.
The Manhattan GOP has until Sept. 30 to fill the vacancy, although it's not like people are banging down the doors to run on the Republican line in Manhattan judicial races - a near-certain loss if ever there was one.
Also, Tim Cochrane has now officially accepted the Conservative Party line in NY-13, leaving Vito Fossella and his supporters nowhere to actually put their boy on the November ballot.
It would seem now all but certain that Vito Fossella's Congressional career will be over in January of 2009. He's done, for the 111th Congress at least.
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Fri Sep 19, 2008 at 15:31:23 PM EDT
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via McMahon press release;
"Staten Island and Southern Brooklyn need a strong voice in Congress to get results in transportation, health care and the economy," Mayor Bloomberg said. "During the last seven years, Mike and I have worked together to deliver just those kind of results: increasing ferry service, developing a workable solid waste plan after decades of stagnation, holding the line on government spending, and saving surpluses for tougher times like the ones we're in now. The 13th Congressional District and all of New York City need a proven leader like Mike to fight for results in Washington. He's delivered during his seven years on the City Council, and I know he'll work just as hard in Washington. I am proud to endorse Mike McMahon for Congress, and urge all of the voters of Staten Island and Southern Brooklyn to send him to Washington this November."
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Tue Sep 09, 2008 at 22:15:04 PM EDT
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with 92% reporting:
McMahon (D) - 9,491 (74%) winner
Harrison (D) - 3,267 (26%)
Straniere(R) - 3,386 (59%) winner
Wyne(R) - 2,331 (41%)
McMahon and Straniere have been declared winners of their primaries. The hidden story is that on a rainy primary day Democrats turn out more than twice the voters of the Republicans.
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Mon Aug 18, 2008 at 09:58:32 AM EDT
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This morning's New York Times contains an endorsement in the NY-13 primary. The Times calls both candidates, Steve Harrison of Brooklyn and Mike McMahon of Staten Island, "appealing", but says that Harrison lacks McMahon's "record of accomplishment."
For Congress in New York's 13th
On the Democratic side, two appealing candidates are facing off. Stephen Harrison, a lawyer who ran a spirited campaign against Mr. Fossella two years ago, has strong community ties in the Brooklyn part of the district and has demonstrated an admirable passion for public service.
He does not, however, have the record of accomplishment of his opponent, Michael McMahon. Mr. McMahon has done an impressive job representing Staten Island in the City Council since 2001, showing leadership on some of the city's thorniest issues. As chairman of the sanitation committee he was instrumental in overhauling the waste management plan to make it fairer and more environmentally sound, and he has been a steadfast champion of recycling, ushering through pioneering legislation on electronic waste.
Mr. McMahon also has a deep understanding of transportation and infrastructure issues, including a strong commitment to mass transportation. He would be a valuable advocate on these fronts in Washington.
As the only Democrat in the Council from Staten Island, Mr. McMahon has proved adept at reaching out to moderates and conservatives. That broad appeal would be an advantage in representing this conservative- leaning district, which gave 55 percent of its votes to President Bush in 2004. Mr. McMahon wins our endorsement in the Democratic primary.
On the web: NY-13 blog.
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Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 17:13:52 PM EDT
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The Rothenberg Political Report has released their latest House rankings today. Five New York races are listed in the rankings, one of which is NY-20 where Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand's race was moved to Democratic favored.
The other four are seats that are currently held by Republicans, three of which are open seats. In NY-13, Steve Harrison and Mike McMahon are vying for the Democratic nomination. Both received good news today as Rothenberg moved the race to Democratic favored. That designation can be attributed to many factors, namely the Republican recruiting woes that have made this race somewhat comical to watch.
Dan Maffei should also be smiling in NY-25. His race was ranked Democratic favored also. Dale Sweetland is his Republican challenger and doesn't come off as an overly strong candidate. Maffei has been strong on the issues, strong in the fundraising column AND a recently married man.
NY-26 and NY-29 both were ranked "Toss Up/Tilt Republican" by Rothenberg. In NY-26, Jon Powers is the front-runner on the Democratic side while Chris Lee has been sitting and waiting for the Democratic nominee. NY-29 has been a duel between Eric Massa and Randy Kuhl. Massa is looking very strong in NY-29 and has the ability to beat Kuhl. Kuhl is the only Republican who has decided to stick it out and run again.
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Tue Jul 29, 2008 at 10:25:37 AM EDT
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(Good news. - promoted by phillip anderson)
The new Rothenberg Political Report 2008 House ratings are out with some great news for us. They have shifted two of our four races, all positively for the Democratic candidates.
NY-13 (McMahon, Harrison): This was the largest jump moving from toss-up/tilt Democratic to Democrat Favored
NY-25 (Maffei): This moved from Lean Democrat to Democrat Favored
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Tue Jul 15, 2008 at 09:27:22 AM EDT
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Robinia touched on this earlier, but check out the full list of the top 10 campaigns on ActBlue this week:
1. Darcy Burner WA-08 $47,589.77
2. Kay Hagan NC-Sen $27,568.33
3. Rick Noriega TX-Sen $22,627.38
4. Donald Barber NY-SD-51 $11,440.00
5. Barack Obama President $11,179.93
6. Paul Newell NY-HD-64 $10,425.00
7. Michael McMahon NY-13 $9,211.33
8. Gary Peters MI-09 $8,587.75
9. David Nachbar NY-SD-55 $7,751.00
10.Tracey Brooks NY-21 $6,085.00
That's right, fully half of the top 10 are New Yorkers and three of those five are state-level candidates, the first time any state level candidate have ever been in the top 10.
Don Barber is the highest ranked New Yorker at number 4. Number 5? Barack Obama. Wrap your head around that one.
Paul Newell comes in 6th, a strong showing and outpacing every federal candidate from New York on the list.
NY-13 candidate Mike McMahon comes in 7th.
SD-51 challenger David Nachbar in 9th.
Tracey Brooks rounds out the top 10.
It is really heartening to see half of the list from New York, but also that three of those five are state level candidates. ActBlue is an amazing tool and I congratulate those candidates and campaigns that have embraced it. I also salute those donors who have given via ActBlue. The GOP doesn't have anything like it and their donors aren't as comfortable giving to candidates online.
Go New York!
P.S. If your campaign is not yet on ActBlue, change that. As you can see, ActBlue is a great tool even for state level candidates. This is a big part of how we run campaigns now. Get with it.
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Fri Jul 11, 2008 at 02:13:26 AM EDT
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( - promoted by phillip anderson)
(h/t Jonah)
Apparently, the rather messy situation for the GOP in NY-13 is continuing. The Staten Island GOP failed to come up with a potential replacement for Frank Powers by the filing deadline and filed the roughly 2000 signatures collected for Powers. In addition, Jamshad Wyne, the SI GOP finance chair, is reported to have filed around 3000 signatures, while former Assemblymen Robert Straniere filed around 2500 signatures.
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Tue Jul 08, 2008 at 11:31:33 AM EDT
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The Republicans in NY-13 have had quite a long, drawn out saga trying to find a candidate to run on their line. It looks as if the Brooklyn Republicans may go with the candidate they backed from the get-go.
... Brooklyn Republicans are collecting names for Conservative Paul Atanasio, whom the borough GOP organization endorsed first before following Staten Island's lead and backing Powers in the interest of party unity.
Atanasio would need permission in the form of a Wilson Pakula to run on the GOP line, which means the Staten Island GOP, which controls the bulk of the district, would have to agree to support him.
It would appear at this point the Republicans are running out of optinos. Atanasio looks like their best hope.
In other news, Democrat Mike McMahon could be submitting a record number of petition signatures when he submits about 11,000 petition signatures to get on the ballot.
Democratic City Councilman Michael McMahon plans to file what could be a record 11,000 petition signatures for his congressional bid this year, nearly eight times the number of signatures he needs to get on the fall ballot.
"It's an awesome number," said McMahon (D-North Shore), the Democratic organization pick in the race.
An awesome number indeed. In fact, it's a huge and impressive number. That should make all the volunteers who went out and got signatures very proud.
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Mon Jul 07, 2008 at 10:05:29 AM EDT
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Second quarter financial data is slowly streaming in and while the FEC hasn't posted the actual data yet, some news sources are already reporting the general outlook for our Democratic candidates in the 13th. As expected, it looks as though Councilman McMahon significantly outraised Steve Harrison, to the tune of a $350,000 difference.
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Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 11:57:20 AM EDT
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The Cook Political Report today upgraded both NY-13 and NY-25 from "toss up" to "lean Democratic".
23 other races are updated as well. You can see them here.
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Thu Jul 03, 2008 at 10:21:34 AM EDT
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(This one looks good. - promoted by phillip anderson)
I blogged about this earlier in the week but I just received an e-mail update from the good people of Democratic Leadership for the 21st Century about their blockbuster event featuring Mark Warner, Tom Perriello (candidate for VA-5), and our very own NY-13 challenger Mike McMahon.
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Wed Jun 18, 2008 at 11:30:04 AM EDT
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In yet another sign that the Dem establishment is lining up behind City Councilman Mike McMahon in the race to replace "Papa Vino" Fossella in NY-13, The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has just added him to their Red to Blue program.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee announced today the next round of candidates who earned a spot in the DCCC's highly competitive Red to Blue program. These 14 candidates qualified for the third round of the Red to Blue program by surpassing demanding fundraising goals and skillfully demonstrating to voters that they stand for change and will represent new priorities when elected to Congress. The DCCC also released a list of 20 emerging races, where Democratic candidates are running strong campaigns that are generating excitement in their districts.
"The candidates for change being named to the DCCC Red to Blue program are running strong campaigns and are committed to making things easier for middle class families in their districts," said Chris Van Hollen, Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. "With less than five months to make their case for change to voters in their districts, the Red to Blue program will give these candidates the financial and structural edge to be even more competitive in November."
Chairman Van Hollen joined Red to Blue co-chairs Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), Artur Davis (D-AL), and Bruce Braley (D-IA) to announce 14 candidates who qualified for the Red to Blue program:
Ethan Berkowitz (AK-AL)
Paul Carmouche (LA-04)
Gerry Connolly (VA-11)
Joe Garcia (FL-25)
Martin Heinrich (NM-01)
Ann Kirkpatrick (AZ-01)
Frank Kratovil (MD-01)
Bob Lord (AZ-03)
Betsy Markey (CO-04)
Raul Martinez (FL-21)
Mike McMahon (NY-13)
Glenn Nye (VA-02)
Harry Teague (NM-02)
Dina Titus (NV-03)
This move by the D-trip signals not only their intentions in NY-13 by picking McMahon over Steve Harrison, it also means that they smell blood in this district and think they can win it.
I agree.
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Wed Jun 11, 2008 at 17:20:40 PM EDT
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It looks more and more like City Councilman Mike McMahon is the Dem establishment's choice for the NY-13 seat. Today, Charlie rangel and 11 othe Dem congresscritters from NYC proclaimed their support according to Liz:
The 12 House members (Ackerman, Clarke, Crowley, Engel, McCarthy, Maloney, Meeks, Nadler, Rangel, Serrano, Towns, and Weiner) issued the following joint statement:
"Following the lead of local Staten Island and Brooklyn Democrats, the New York City Congressional delegation is proud to stand behind Staten Island Councilman Mike McMahon in his campaign for Congress."
"This year, we have an historic opportunity to turn the last Republican Congressional district in New York City Democratic. We are committed to seeing that Mike McMahon is successful."
"In the past eight years, New Yorkers have shown tremendous strength - together we have lived through the horror of 9/11, and we have seen New York soldiers off to war. But the misplaced priorities of the Bush administration have weakened our City, and there is a great deal of work to do to take us in a new direction."
"We are confident that Mike McMahon will play an important role in bringing our troops home from Iraq, and in winning our fight for good-paying New York jobs, reduced gas prices and quality health care for all Americans."
What's interesting to me is the absence of my Congresswoman's name, Nydia Velazquez. I wonder what that's about.
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Tue Jun 03, 2008 at 13:37:07 PM EDT
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All signs point to a McMahon vs. Harrison primary on the Democratic side of this race. Today brings us news that we might also have a primary on the Republican side. Dr. Jamshad Wyne (R), GOP Finance Chair in Staten Island has indeed entered the race;
The Todt Hill resident, who has gone back and forth on the race over the last two weeks, announced yesterday he would challenge Frank Powers, a Metropolitan Transportation Authority board member and retired Wall Street executive, for the GOP congressional nod.
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Fri May 30, 2008 at 01:16:20 AM EDT
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I'm simply stunned at the speed, the scope and the magnitude of the complete and utter meltdown of the Staten Island GOP in the last two weeks. The term "epic" comes to mind. I don't know that I have ever, ever seen anything like it.
Earlier today, we learned that the "frontrunner" for the nod was someone we'd never heard of and who hadn't been been mentioned at all, by anyone, before about lunchtime today. Lanza was out and she was the new standard bearer for the SI GOoPs. This was, of course, after Dan Donovan said "No thanks", after Fiala took a pass as well.
This lead dome local GOP hacks to say things like "Talk about dysfunctional? This is dysfunctional." Today, after learning of Lisa Giovinazzo's apparent "frontrunnerdom", other GOoPs told Liz:
As one disgruntled elephant told me earlier this afternoon: "If you can't find someone to run for a seat that was once thought to be a sure-thing for Republicans, you might as well pack it in."
Said another, thoroughly disgusted GOPer: "The Staten Island Republican Party is dead."
You would think that things simply could not get worse for these folks, right?
WRONG.
The GOP has just nominated Todt Hill resident Frank Powers to run for Congress.
Powers is right now at the podium giving his acceptance speech at the Excelsior Grand in New Dorp.
Powers is on the board of directors of Richmond University Medical Center and has served as President of the Staten Island Academy. He served on the Board of the former St. Vincent's Medical Center for over 20 years and is a past president of the Downtown Athletic Club and past president of the Heisman Trophy Foundation. He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Staten Island Institute of Arts and Sciences, and Chairman of the USS Sullivan's' Foundation. He is the former Chairman of the Board of St. Elizabeth Ann's Health Care and Rehabilitation Center. He was appointed to the Board of the MTA in 2005. Powers also currently serves on the Board of Wagner College.
 That's right. This afternoon's "frontrunner" got the cold shoulder and this guy, another guy no one has ever freakin' heard of, got the nod. No, really. That guy in the picture, the one you've never even heard of.
For reals.
Gaze in wonder, friends.
Mr. NY-13 himself, Jonah sums it up nicely:
GOP nominates Frank Powers. Who?
The Republican Party just pulled a fast one on itself. After having 19 potential candidates they passed on and then declaring a front runner no one had ever heard of they nominated someone who wasn't even good enough to be in those top 20.
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So this guy serves on the board of a medical center that is closing clinics across the district and creating major health care concerns. He is on the board of the MTA, which mismanages transportation and funds and is the bane of existence for so many in the district. Oh but he is used to be president of the Heisman Trophy Foundation. Makes sense. He is loaded and can self finance. Congrats Republicans.
Stunning. Simply stunning.
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Thu May 29, 2008 at 17:50:43 PM EDT
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The stunning recruiting meltdown for the GOP continues in NY-13. The Staten Island Advance is reporting that state Senator Andrew Lanza will not run for "Papa Vino" Fossella's seat. It's a shame in one respect in that it would have created an open Senate seat, but Lanza was also about the last best bet the NRCC had for holding this seat. Their hopes now reside with the out-of-the-blue emergence of Lisa Giovinazzo who, to be perfectly honest, I've never even heard of. As Jonah points out, out of the 18 people mentioned as potential candidates, her name hasn't been uttered once before about lunchtime today.
That, friends, is called "scraping the bottom of the barrel."
UPDATE: (From Liz)The Local GOoPs are not happy:
As one disgruntled elephant told me earlier this afternoon: "If you can't find someone to run for a seat that was once thought to be a sure-thing for Republicans, you might as well pack it in."
Said another, thoroughly disgusted GOPer: "The Staten Island Republican Party is dead."
This comes on the evening of the big state GOP annual dinner, headlined by VP Dick Cheney.
Well, I guess there's really no one more suited to preside over the Staten Island GOP's funeral than Darth Cheney himself...
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Thu May 29, 2008 at 15:20:54 PM EDT
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(Interesting. - promoted by phillip anderson)
The Republican County Committee is holding candidate interviews tonight, where if you can believe former candidate GOP chairman John Friscia, Lisa Giovinazzo is the front runner for their endorsement. Lisa Giovinazzo as he tells us, because I had no clue is an NY1 reporter. She is also known for losing to McMahon previously when she ran against him in 2003 for his City Council seat. As a third/fourth/fifth tier candidate I am sure everyone is familiar with her, but if not here is her 2003 candidate bio.
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