Hayworth Opponents Lobby for Support at Forum
Three of the five Democrats battling to unseat freshman GOP Rep. Nan Hayworth jockeyed to convince voters they were the best bet of sending a Democrat back to Washington at a candidate forum in Mahopac on Tuesday, June 5.
The event sponsored by the Concerned Residents of Carmel and Mahopac drew Cortlandt Councilman and cardiologist Richard Becker; Wappingers Falls Mayor Matt Alexander; and former Bill Clinton and Andrew Cuomo aide Sean Patrick Maloney, the race’s fundraising leader.
After each candidate delivered an opening statement, members of the public — a crowd of about 25 — asked the trio questions on everything from fracking and the recent Citizens United Supreme Court decision to trends in healthcare and education.
Alexander positioned himself as the candidate with the widest range of local experience, working with village, county, state and federal governments.
“People in my town know me as Mayor Matt, but I’d like you to remember me as the one who makes Nan Hayworth a one-term congresswoman,” he said. “She lacks the local experience at the grassroots level. She does not understand what we’re up against as businesses, individuals and local communities.”
Becker said he understood the importance of job creation in the lower Hudson Valley and the needs and challenges of small business owners because he’s been one himself.
“I’ve been creating jobs in the area for decades,” he said.
The way to coax the region out of the recession is through New Deal-style infrastructure development, he said.
“I believe that this is the time we should be investing in infrastructure and creating construction jobs now,” he said. “That’s how we got out of the Great Depression, and that’s how we’ll get out of this great recession.”
Maloney, who has racked up a string of high-profile union endorsements in recent weeks, said he’s the candidate best poised to get the job done on day one.
“It is that combination, I think, of federal and state and local experience that is the job of a congressperson,” he said. “We need a government that’s as good as we are, we need a government that works as hard as we do, we need a government that’s accountable as we all are in our lives.”
All three candidates spoke out against allowing fracking in the lower Hudson Valley and confirmed their support of President Barack Obama’s healthcare plan.
“What matters is that you get high-quality care that is affordable and universal,” Maloney said. “I think the individual pieces of the law that are really only now becoming known to the American people need to be brought back.”
Elizabeth Gould of Yorktown Heights said all three candidates impressed her, but Alexander stuck out.
“You can see he was very personally affected by [these issues], and that really touched me,” he said.
But for Elaine Jacobs of Mahopac, Maloney shined at the forum.
“I was looking to see which candidate reflected my overall belief and was impressed with all three,” she said. “I was very impressed with Maloney because I do feel he can take his experience and come out of the gate running.”
The Democratic primary will be held Tuesday, June 26.
Adam has worked in the local news industry for the past two decades in Westchester County and the broader Hudson Valley. Read more from Adam’s author bio here.
