It’s the final stretch of two contentious, competitive Democratic congressional primaries here in the city.
Candidates in both races plan to mark the first day of early voting Saturday by rallying for abortion rights, campaigning outside polling sites and visiting parts of the districts where turnout is expected to be highest.
But first, for the incumbents, Friday was for government business.
Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Jerry Nadler and Mondaire Jones were in Washington, D.C. to vote for the Inflation Reduction Act.
“This legislation is also for my grandmother, Alice Jones, who worked well past the age of retirement just to pay for the high cost of prescription drugs and medical procedures,” Jones said on the House floor. He’s running in the 10th Congressional District, which spans Lower Manhattan and western Brooklyn.
In the 12th Congressional District, Maloney and Nadler are locked in a clash of the titans.
“This is Jerry Nadler. I wanted to say hello to you. And thank you for your support,” the Congressman told backers Thursday on the Upper West Side, speaking to them via their friend’s phone.
The race to represent the Upper East and Upper West Sides has a third contender, Suraj Patel, who believes his third run for Congress will be the charm. In 2020, he lost to Maloney by less than 4 points.
“And now we’re on the early vote phase and then we’re on to the Election Day phase,” Patel said Thursday on the Upper West Side. “I feel pretty good about it, though. I feel like we’ve pitched a no-hitter.”
Jones this spring moved from the Hudson Valley to Brooklyn to run for the open seat in the newly drawn 10th Congressional District.
Dan Goldman, Carlina Rivera, Yuh-Line Niou, Liz Holtzman and Jo Ann Simon are among the other candidates.
Rivera, a City Council member, and Niou, a State Assembly member, are expected to attend the same reproductive justice rally as Maloney on Saturday.
“Women prioritize it,” Maloney said Thursday at an event on the Upper East Side with feminist leaders, adding that she believes male legislators put issues like abortion access on the back-burner. “And when you have women in the room, they are not on the chopping block.”
Newly filed campaign finance reports show that in July, Jones, Rivera and Niou outraised Goldman, the Democrats’ lead counsel in Donald Trump’s first impeachment trial.
But Goldman, whose family is sinking millions of their fortune into his bid, vastly outspent them, including on TV ads.
The Levi Strauss heir spent $2.3 million between July 1 and Aug. 3.
Jones also spent big in that time period: $1.1 million.
In the 12th district, Nadler out-raised Maloney, but she outspent him.
She reported about $1 million in expenditures to his $563,000.
Early voting begins Aug. 13. The primary is on Aug. 23.