Queens Election Guide 2018: Races To Watch And How To Vote

QUEENS, NY — Are you ready to wear that “I voted” sticker? Queens residents will be heading to the polls on Nov. 6 to decide who represents them in Albany and Washington.

In addition to state and federal legislative seats, voters will determine who holds four statewide offices and decide the fate of three proposed changes to the City Charter.

Read on to learn more about what's at stake in the borough's biggest races and about how to cast your ballot on Nov. 6.

Races To Watch

Congressional Races

14th Congressional District

The 14th Congressional District race is one receiving national attention. After Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made national headlines by winning the June primary against 19-year incumbent Joe Crowley, she became a media darling and began touring the country to stump for other progressive Democrats.

Before becoming a congressional candidate Ocasio-Cortez worked in former U.S. Rep. Ted Kennedy’s office in Massachusetts during college, was an organizer for the 2016 Bernie Sanders presidential campaign and protested the oil pipeline at Standing Rock, South Dakota.

Her work with the Sanders campaign and at Standing Rock caught the eye of Brand New Congress, a political action committee that recruits people to run against career politicians. Now 28, Ocasio-Cortez is positioned to be the youngest woman ever to be a U.S. representative.

Her campaign is built on the Democratic Socialist platform, similar to that of Sanders:

• Medicare for all, a universal health care proposal.
• Abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which she believes was created as a gut reaction to 9/11 and operates with no accountability.
• Criminal justice reform including the end of cash bail, release of prisoners with non-violent drug offenses and mental health care for those incarcerated as well as law enforcement.
• More tax benefits to working and middle-class homeowners and expanding the low-income housing tax benefit.
• A federal jobs guarantee with a $15 minimum wage, full benefits and child care.

Ocasio-Cortez’s opponent, Anthony Pappas, is a tenured St. John’s University finance and economics professor. He has a Ph.D from Yale University and a Bachelor’s of Science degree from MIT. He describes himself a “moderate Republican” and “staunchly independent.” On Oct. 30 the Bronx and Queens GOP leaders pulled their support of Pappas’s campaign after they learned of assault allegations by his ex-wife and that he was committed three times, according to a New York Post report.

6th Congressional District

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng is running for her fourth term. She is the first woman to hold a Queens House seat since Geraldine Ferraro. She is now the senior whip and regional whip for the state. She helped create and serves as a founding member and former co-chair of the Quiet Skies Caucus which helps mitigate the noise from the borough’s two international airports. She also wrote legislation that struck the word “Oriental” from federal law.

As Queens has the highest population of veterans in New York City, veterans' issues are important to Meng. She pushes for better healthcare from the VA hospitals, employment for veterans after service, and for the GI Bill to provide benefits indefinitely rather than for 15 years.

Meng is working to make college free for working families. She voted to make applying for student aid a simpler process and ensures the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, is translated into multiple languages.

Meng does not believe health care and Social Security should be cut and opposes legislation to do so. She also authored legislation that would increase Social Security benefits in places with higher cost of living.

Running on the Green Party ticket is Tom Hillgardner, an attorney who runs a private practice focusing on tenant law. He dubbed himself a “real progressive Democrat” but left the Democratic Party to join the Green Party after what he believes was the unfair treatment of Bernie Sanders in 2016.

Once in Washington, Hillgardner plans to fight to end super PACs and make sure that corporations are not treated as natural people. He wants to end private prisons, solitary confinement and make sure that prisoners can vote, with the exception of those sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. He fully supports Sanders' Medicare for All bill and believes the for-profit health care system must end.

3rd Congressional District

U.S. Rep Tom Suozzi is seeking his second term in congress representing the 3rd Congressional District, which covers part of northeast Queens. In the past he has served as the mayor of Nassau County’s Glen Cove, where he resides, and as the Nassau County executive.

Suozzi created a Veterans Advisory Council which tackles issues such as Improving access to mental health counseling for veterans, improving the Northport VA, demolishing vacant buildings there and improving the transition from active duty to veteran status.

He also seeks to “mend not end” the Affordable Care Act and works within a bipartisan committee of 24 Republicans and 24 Democrats to do so.

The Republican opponent in this race is Dan DeBono, a former Navy Seal with generations of military service in his family. He has spent the last two decades in investment banking and currently runs a small investment and advisory business in New York. DeBono has helped coordinate local campaigns for both Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney during their presidential runs.

Debono seeks to dramatically lower taxes for the middle class and local businesses; create significant infrastructure improvements; and strengthen middle-class jobs and wages through small business growth, deregulation and competition.

U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks of the 5th Congressional District faces no challenger in the general election.

State Senate Races

11th Senate District

Former City Comptroller John Liu beat incumbent state Sen. Tony Avella in the Democratic primary in September, but Avella would not go gentle into that good night. He continues to campaign on the Independence Party line and the Women’s Equality Party line.

Liu, a Flushing resident and the first Asian-American to hold political office in New York City supports abortion rights, reforming public schools, and "restor(ing) integrity" to the state government.

Avella’s loss came as part of a wave that struck down several former members of the Independent Democratic Conference, a group of eight breakaway Democrats who allied themselves with Senate Republicans for years.

A few weeks after the primary, Avella announced that after discussing his loss with members of constituency, he could no let Liu go into the general election without further opposition. His campaign issues are:

• Increasing funding for New York City public schools.
• Creating jobs through the expansion and support of small businesses.
• Providing more funding for seniors, veterans and health care services.
• Allocating more money for parks, libraries and street tree maintenance, and decreasing airplane and helicopter noise.
• Implementing more traffic safety measures.

The two are facing off with the Republican Party nominee, Vickie Paladino. Paladino is a Whitestone resident and the former owner of a landscaping business. She shot to fame last year when she hopped out of her car and began screaming at Mayor Bill de Blasio as he left a press conference. She recently made headlines when making baseless claims that Liu’s campaign staffers were part of Antifa.

In the 13th Senate District, Jessica Ramos ousted incumbent state Sen. Jose Peralta in September’s Democratic primary and faces no challenger in the general election.

Registered voters can find their polling site by logging their address into the New York State Board of Elections website.

(Lead image: Photo from Shutterstock)