When U.S. Magistrate Roanne Mann released a draft of New York’s new Congressional maps, there was perhaps no one with more cause to object to them than Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries.
The well-regarded Brooklyn lawmaker had been running hard against longtime incumbent Ed Towns, gathering a slew of union endorsements in the process–quite an achievement for a challenger running against an entrenched congressman like Mr. Towns.
But the court’s map drew Mr. Jeffries home out of Mr. Towns district, putting him and much of his base in Clinton Hill and Fort Greene into the district of Congresswoman Yvette Clark while putting white neighborhoods like Howard Beach, Mill Basin and Ozone Park into the Towns district.
Mr. Jeffries has mounted a vigorous challenge to the lines, urging Judge Mann to reconsider, but he seems not content to wait around on the off-chance that she does.
Instead, according to his campaign, Mr. Jeffries went campaigning this weekend in the new district, campaigning in neighborhoods that are both the heart of the district like Bed-Stuy and East New York as well as neighborhoods that he objected to being added to it like Mill Basin.
According to the campaign, on Friday Mr. Jeffries campaigned in the morning at a C train station in Bed-Stuy and stopped by Council Member Al Vann’s Harriet Tubman Day celebration at Boys & Girls high school. He then met with a group of prominent clergy members and finished his day at an event at the Tompkins housing projects–a Towns stronghold.
Then, on Saturday and Sunday Mr. Jeffries campaigned along Fulton St. in Bed-Stuy, worshipped at two churches in East New York and another in Bed-Stuy and spent Saturday evening at two synagogues in Mill Basin including, a fundraiser in honor of the late district leader Bernie Catcher.
There have been whispers in some Brooklyn political circles that Mr. Jeffries will in the end not go ahead with a run for Mr. Towns seat, since not only is his home not in the district but his base of support isn’t either. His schedule this weekend seems to put the lie to that notion.
Said Mr. Jeffries in a statement, “The level of support from all parts of the district has been tremendous and we are moving forward full speed ahead.”
