Take Westchester Upwards by Voting Down-Ballot

With Election Day only a week away and early voting now underway, citizens across Northern Westchester have a crucial opportunity to improve the quality of their lives, families, and communities by acting decisively at the ballot box. Though much of the attention throughout this election has been on the Presidential contest, it’s important for voters to be mindful of the additional races down-ballot, i.e. the local candidates listed below the top national candidates. Yes, casting a vote for Joe Biden will help ensure that our next president will implement coherent, progressive polices at the Federal level, but the outcome of local and state races will have the most impact on our day-to-day lives. Our local elected officials make the decisions about issues closest to us and are most accessible to their constituents. As former House Speaker Tip O’Neil famously said, “all politics is local.” In the best-case scenario, local government is most effective when it offers diverse ideas and polices which reflect the dynamics of the entire community, regardless of national political trends; however, in this election, the most effective way to insure our communities can improve healthcare, public safety, the environment, infrastructure, economic development, and other issues is to select the entire Democratic ticket by voting row “A” all the way. Though it would be beneficial to have effective bipartisanship at the local level, unfortunately Westchester Republican Party candidates, in their local obedience to Donald Trump (whose $21 million tax break for his Westchester property is being investigated by NY’s Attorney General), are not articulating positive proposals that would improve the lives of Westchester residents. Instead, they’re running highly negative campaigns built on fearmongering, climate change denial, racist dog-whistles, the theft of lawn signs, the spread of disinformation and the embrace of other far-right extremist policies that simply are out of sync with the values of a majority of Westchester’s voters. Until such time as GOP candidates again start to embrace such former traditional moderate Republican positions as fiscal conservatism, free trade, aiding global world order, supporting America’s allies, and the rule of law, it’s up to the Democrats to look after the interests and rights of all citizens. So when marking your ballot, remember to support such local candidates as Sean Patrick Maloney and Mondaire Jones for Congress, Pete Harckham and Shelley Mayer for NY State Senate, Chris Burdick for NY Assembly, Mimi Rocah for District Attorney, Alexandra Murphy, Robert Ondrovic and Loren Williams for the Ninth Judicial District and David Menken for Bedford Town Justice. Voting for local candidates is an exercise in direct democracy by popular vote – no Electoral College numbers to factor, so every vote definitely counts. Help your town by going down-ballot and choosing the aforementioned candidates dedicated to keeping Westchester moving upward and building America back better. For complete non-partisan local election information go to Vote411.org.