New York Focus: Has Anyone Told the Brooklyn Democratic Party There’s an Election Next Week?

With the county party largely inactive, the New York State Democratic Party and local political clubs are attempting to pick up the slack.

The state Democratic Party has committed $100,000 in the last week alone to getting out the vote in Brooklyn, state party chair Jay Jacobs told New York Focus on Tuesday. That money will pay for canvassers, printed campaign materials, and radio ads in multiple languages in support of Governor Hochul, other statewide elected Democrats, and local state Senate and Assembly candidates, according to a campaign memo reviewed by New York Focus. 

And local political clubs such as the Bay Ridge Democrats, Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, and Lambda Independent Democrats are also running multiple volunteer canvasses a week, electeds and club leaders told New York Focus.

“Some of the clubs have been going out there every single weekend since September,” said Hunter Rabinowitz, president of the Brooklyn Young Democrats, which he said has been canvassing and leafleting for Hochul, Rose, state Senate candidate Iwen Chu, and Assemblymember Mathylde Frontus.

Rabinowitz said he hasn’t heard anything from the county party. And although Brooklyn Young Democrats has clashed with county party leadership in the past, Rabinowitz said that he would welcome a chance to collaborate with them.

“We would absolutely be willing to work together,” he said. “Despite all of our differences with the county party, right now we should have the same priority, which is making sure that Democrats are able to win.”