Jesse Hamilton's Challenger Nabs 4 Brooklyn Endorsements

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK — The young candidate challenging State Senator Jesse Hamilton scooped up four endorsements this week from local politicians who say they want to send a progressive Democrat to Albany.

Four Assembly members gave their support to Zellnor Myrie, the 31-year-old attorney who hopes to represent central Brooklyn’s District 20, and not to the incumbent, former Independent Democratic Conference member Hamilton.

"I’m supporting Zellnor because he is the progressive leader that Brooklynites and New Yorkers need right now," said Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon.

"With threats to our democratic values and policies in Washington, we can no longer afford to have a divided state legislature."

Simon was joined by Brooklyn assembly members Diana Richardson, Walter Mosley and Robert Carroll in a group endorsement that Myrie’s office announced on Thursday.

Myrie’s endorsements contribute to a city-wide trend of local officials working to displace former members of the IDC — a controversial group of Democratic state senators who aligned with Republicans instead of their party — and sparked by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s victory against Rep. Joe Crowley, the The New York Times first reported.

In The Bronx, state senate hopeful Alessandra Biaggi earned an endorsement from the Service Employees International Union, whose president Hector Figueroa tweeted, "IDC betrayed voters creating a big political mess. Time to clean up."

In Queens, Assembly member Aravella Simotas told the Times she's supporting Jessica Ramos because "Jose Peralta betrayed Queens."

And, in Brooklyn, Assemblyman Carroll announced he would endorse Myrie in an email entitled, "No IDC - Vote for Zellnor Myrie for State Senate."

Myrie, an attorney from Crown Heights, is also positioning himself as the anti-IDC and pro-housing reform candidate. If elected, Myrie says he'll repeal the Urstadt Law, which bars the city’s from setting stringent rent limits, and to end vacancy decontrol and preferential rent regulations that allow landlords to hike rents by thousands of dollars.

"I’ve had to go to housing court with my mother because the landlord has taken her to court because she was in a rent stabilized apartment," Myrie says in his campaign video. "Housing, for me, is the number one, two and three issue."

Hamilton, meanwhile, is also framing himself as a progressive candidate, reminding constituents of his sponsorship of the school zone speed camera bill, his role in raising New York's criminal responsibility age to 18 and his support for 265 Hawthorne St. residents who successfully formed a tenants co-op.

But it's Hamilton's position on housing that Myrie hopes to challenge. In interviews with Gothamist and the Gotham Gazette, Myrie blamed Hamilton's connection to IDC for the housing issues plaguing his constituents.

"It's very hard for any member of the IDC to say they support tenants while taking in tens of thousands of dollars in real estate money," Myrie told Gothamist. "[It] sounds like someone saying 'I'm against drunk driving,' while handing the keys to a drunk driver."

Photo courtesy of Zellnor Myrie's office