Press Release: Jim Owles Club Makes First Round of Endorsements in Local Races
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Allen Roskoff, President Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club
aroskoff@mac.com, 917-553-7180
NEW YORK, NY — Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club announced its first round of endorsements in key local races. These include State Senate and Assembly races, the upcoming (March 24) Queens Borough President special election, three important Congressional races and one District Leader race. .
For Queens Borough President the club enthusiastically endorses Costa Constantinides. The Club was impressed with his comprehensive list of important borough initiatives, including his plans to address climate change. As chair of the City Council’s Committee on Environmental Protection, he already has an outstanding record on leadership on several of the recent city environmental actions and understands the disproportionate affect existing conditions have on communities of color.
“Queens is quickly becoming a bastion of progressivism, and we believe Costa is the best candidate to carry those ideals forward and fight for real change at Borough Hall,” said the club.
The club’s first round of endorsements in several State Senate and Assembly races also highlighted both existing progressive champions and challengers. The Club endorsed incumbents Julia Salazar in the 18th State Senate District, Brad Hoylman in the 27th State Senate District, Elizabeth Krueger in the 28th State Senate District, Jose A. Serrano in the 29th State Senate District, Robert Jackson in the 31st State Senate District, and Luis Sepulveda in the 32nd State Senate District. In the Assembly the Club endorsed incumbent Catalina Cruz in the 39th Assembly District. “These incumbents have been important allies of the Jim Owles Democratic Club’s important criminal justice, LGBTQ and tenant protection priorities, where there has been substantial progress in the last 2 years” state Club President Allen Roskoff. The Club also endorsed three new progressive candidates in important Assembly Districts - Richard David in the 31st Assembly Disrict, Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas in the 36th Assembly District, and Jenifer Rajkumar in the 37th Assembly District,
In addition, Jim Owles announced its endorsement of Adem Bunkeddeko in his bid for Rep. Yvette Clark’s seat in the 9th Congressional District. Adem narrowly lost in a tight contest against the longtime incumbent in 2018 and outlined new strategies to enable victory in this year. Earlier, Jim Owles endorsed Ritchie Torres to succeed Jose E. Serrano in the 15th Congressional District, and progressive Jamaal Bowman in his bid to unseat Eliot Engel in the 16th Congressional District.
The club also endorsed three incumbent Congressional Champions - Thomas Suozzi in the 3rd Congressional District, Grace Meng in the 6th Congressional District, Jerrold Nadler in the 10th Congressional District, Carolyn Maloney in the 12th Congressional District, Adriano Espillat in the 13th Congressional District, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the 14th Congressional District.
Jim Owles endorsed in one District Leader race of note, putting its weigh behind reformer Samy Nemir Olivares in Brooklyn’s 53rd Assembly District Leader race.
Last week, Jim Owles was the first LGBTQ club in the city to announce its pick for the Democratic nominee for President of the United States: Bernie Sanders.
Jim Owles President Allen Roskoff, who also authored the nation’s first gay rights bill, said: “The endorsement of so many strong progressive leaders is another sign of the revolution that is shaking up politics as usual in Albany and City Hall. Now we need to finish the fight and eject the “Motherfucker-in-Chief” and his criminal allies in Washington, D.C.”
The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, named for the legendary gay rights pioneer Jim Owles, was formed in 2004 as a citywide political activist club with a mission to promote a progressive agenda, including the fight for LGBTQ equality, the fight against racism, for universal health care, a woman’s right to choose, economic justice, protection of immigrants in our country, and the immediate release of the children from the cages.
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