It was a week of emocratic musical chairs for the newly official 6th Congressional District. After the unexpected retirement of Rep. Gary Ackerman, three Democratic challengers—including a local councilwoman—announced they will vie for his seat.
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, Assemblyman Rory Lancman and Assemblywoman Grace Meng will fight for the nomination leading up to a June 26 primary.
A day before candidates could start petitioning on Tuesday, a judicial panel put final lines in place for congressional redistricting that had been neglected by the 
state legislature, and campaigning began in full swing.
On Monday, a morning meeting of the Queens County Democratic Committee ended with an endorsement for Meng. Lancman kicked off his campaign on Tuesday, and Crowley officially started her bid Wednesday.
These moves all came in a flurry when Ackerman unexpectedly retired last Thursday.
Lancman had entered the race earlier than the other two, saying he would take on Ackerman, a 30-year incumbent.
But just before Ackerman announced his retirement, Lancman pulled out of the race, saying he didn’t want to take on a Democrat.
Lancman originally planned on running against Rep. Bob Turner until it became clear that the congressional seat would be eliminated.
“My enthusiasm for running against Republican Bob Turner on a platform of leveling the economic playing field for working people doesn’t extend to running against fellow Democrat Gary Ackerman,” Lancman said in a statement hours before the news about Ackerman broke.
But by Monday, Lancman was back in the race and vyed for the party’s backing along with Meng and Crowley.
Meng, who represents Flushing in the Assembly, won the backing of the Queens County Democrats and their chair, Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Astoria).
Joe Crowley is cousin to Elizabeth Crowley (D-Middle Village). She interviewed over the weekend seeking her cousin’s backing but decided to enter anyway when he and the party threw it behind Meng.
“I have a very good relationship with my cousin Joe Crowley. I have a tremendous amount of respect. He’s very influential in my life and I love him dearly, so I was hoping for the county’s endorsement,” Crowley said, “But I know that I’ll be able to win this election as an independent candidate. That’s why we have primaries. More than one Democrat can run, and the people will make the choice of who they see is best to represent them in Washington.”
Meng could be the first Asian-American congresswoman sent to Washington from New York, and there has been much discussion about the rearranged 6th District’s residents being 40 percent Asian.
The 6th is the only congressional district entirely within Queens and stretches from Lancman’s assembly district around Hillcrest, through Meng’s assembly district in Flushing and ends in Crowley’s council district around Middle Village, Maspeth and Ridgewood.
In an interview with The Forum, Crowley said any demographic advantage is negligible.
“We’re not having a campaign here about what demographics are represented in the district. It’s a very diverse district just like Queens County is, and that shouldn’t dictate the race of the representative,” Crowley said. “This is going to be a campaign on issues.”
She laid out four issues she thinks will be pivotal: labor, health care, public safety and education.
Some of Crowley’s most high-profile moments have come when she opposed Mayor Michael Bloomberg and fought to keep firehouses open that were slated to be axed.
She cited that and her position on the Fire and Criminal Justice Committee as strong credentials.
Lancman congratulated Meng on the party’s backing and, like Crowley, emphasized an issues-driven campaign with the focus on working people and families.
“As New York families have struggled with unemployment, stagnant wages and an economic playing field that’s been tilted to benefit the well-off and well-connected, we’ve seen the income gap get larger, the middle class get smaller and opportunity disappear,” Lancman said as part of his official announcement Tuesday. “I’m running for Congress because we need an economy that works for everyone.”
He scored the first major union endorsement on Wednesday when the Retail Wholesale and Department Store Union announced its support for him.
Compared to Lancman and Meng, Crowley may have a disadvantage in infrastructure for the moment.
Meng has the party behind her, and Lancman has been planning a run for months on the idea of taking out Turner.
Crowley said she decided to enter the race only after Ackerman’s retirement.
“I like government. I’ve been in the city council for the last three years. This is the area I was born and raised in, and when this opportunity opened up, I of course considered it,” she said.
She has about $130,000 on hand, a spokesman said, but has also hit the ground running hard, quickly hiring a consulting team and fundraisers.
A Republican opponent is still unknown, but one of the three Democrats will compete in the general election in November.
By Jeremiah Dobruck
j.dobruck@theforumnewsgroup.com
