After Failed AG Bid, Maloney Turns to Plan B 
After a failed bid for New York State attorney general, Representative Sean Patrick Maloney will look to defend his 18th congressional district seat this November.
Maloney, in a four-way Democratic primary for attorney general, fell well short of being the nominee last Thursday. Maloney came in third, behind eventual winner, New York City advocate Tish James, and law professor Zephyr Teachout. Former Hillary Clinton advisor Leecia Eve came in last.
Before last week, Maloney was running for his congressional position and attorney general simultaneously.
James won with 39 percent of the vote and Teachout came in second with about 30 percent of the vote. Maloney was a distance third with only 24 percent of the vote. Maloney, who currently represents all of Putnam in the 18th district, beat out his fellow AG candidates in the county with 42 percent of the vote.
Maloney, a Cold Spring resident, poured close to $2 million into the race—some funds he took from his congressional campaign war chest—and highlighted that he was the first openly gay congressman from New York with an interracial family. Maloney, along with the three other candidates, all vowed to fight Republican President Donald Trump with lawsuits and legal action.
But Maloney’s voting record came under fire as primary day neared, with the Working Families Party blasting him for voting against former President Barack Obama dozens of times and voting with Trump on far too many occasions.
Maloney’s opponent running for Congress, Jimmy O’Donnell, sent out a statement Thursday night once again blasting Maloney, calling 18th district constituents Maloney’s “last priority.”
“After spending millions of his congressional campaign funds on his Attorney General race, Maloney’s poor showing in the primary will mean he is forced into his backup plan of running for Congress, but the dye is already cast on him abandoning his district,” O’Donnell, an Orange County legislator, said in a statement.
Maloney is in the middle of his third term. In 2016, he was one of only a handful of Democratic candidates for Congress to win a congressional seat in a district won by Trump.
