Tuesday 17 May 2022 11:49 PM Campaign chair Sean Patrick Maloney sparks fury by announcing he will run ... trends now
New York Democrats are facing an intra-state civil war after lawmakers were gobsmacked by a new state map that pits senior lawmakers against one another and risks whittling away the party's lopsided Democratic majority of the delegation.
The anger burst into the open when Rep. Mondaire Jones ripped Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney for tweeting that he would run in the reworked district that Jones, a progressive and member of the Congressional Black Caucus, currently represents.
'Public housing developments are divided. Historic districts are divided, you know, so hopefully, those kinds of things can be taken into consideration and fixed so you don't have that kind of division. The process was horrible,' Queens Rep. Gregory Meeks fumed to DailyMail.com.
Maloney infuriated Jones by announcing he would run against the first term lawmaker.
Representative Sean Patrick Maloney, who chairs the Democratic campaign arm, announced that he will run in the redrawn 17th Congressional District, which would include his home. That would pit him against progressive Rep. Mondaire Jones
Some House Democrats were stunned by the move – in part because Maloney, by virtue of chairing the party's campaign arm, is charged with getting fellow Democrats reelected.
'Sean Patrick Maloney did not even give me a heads up before he went on Twitter to make that announcement. And I think that tells you everything you need know about Sean Patrick Maloney,' Jones told Politico.
Maloney lives in Cold Spring, which is inside the new 17th Congressional District, but Jones currently represents more of the redrawn district.
Maloney, 55, is a lawyer who worked on Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign and lost a 2006 run for state attorney general to Andrew Cuomo. He is the first openly gay member of Congress elected from New York.
Mondaire Jones, 24, fumed that Maloney didn't provide a 'head's up' on his plan to run against him if the new lines stand
The map would make substantial changes to New York districts – and pit incumbents against each other in at least two districts
Jones fumed that homestate lawmaker Maloney didn't give him a 'heads up'
Jones' chief of staff kept up the grousing online. Jones lives in White Plains, which would be inside the new district currently represented by Rep. Jamal Bowman
The new map, which needs approval Friday, is setting off chaos among the New York delegation
It could also make it harder for Democrats to hold onto their narrow House majority
Jones, 34, campaigned on Medicare for All and is a member of his party's progressive wing. His 2020 primary run helped nudge longtime Rep. Nita Lowey, who hadn't faced a competitive primary in years, to retire. He is the first openly gay black member of Congress.
The new map would put Jones, of White Plains, into the district of Rep. Jamal Bowman, another Black Caucus
