Letter: Mendy Raitport Thanks Crown Heights

After losing the race for state assembly, Mendy Raitport still feels this was a victory and penned a letter thanking Crown Heights for their support. Already he is feeling the positive effects of the strong voter turnout, which he feels will enable our neighborhood to receive better recognition.

To all my friends, family, and supporters,

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you for your time, effort, and consideration in the recent election. I wanted to be your assemblyman, so that I could make this community, the Rebbe’s community, a better place to live and grow, and in that sense, I feel as if we have won.

We ran this race so that our community could have a voice—so that we could have a seat at the table when important issues are being discussed. And in this sense, we also won. Close to half of our active voters showed up on Election Day, which is a statistic that is almost unheard of. I have been getting calls from Albany and City Hall asking to meet with me about our community. Already, people are beginning to realize that we have a powerful voice—one that will only get stronger. I, myself, plan to grow as a person and as a member of this community. I do not know exactly what the future holds for me, but I am excited for whatever that may be.

I want to thank everyone who voted for me and all of my volunteers. Without you, this race would not have been possible. I know many of you came out to vote on May 5th who never voted before, or have not voted in a very long time. Many of you crossed party lines to vote for me, and I thank each and every one of you.

I want to thank my campaign manager, Liam McCabe, and the rest of Steeplechase Strategies. I would like to extend my gratitude to the Crown Heights PAC, specifically Chanina Sperlin & Zaki Tamir, who threw their support behind me 110%. And of the esteemed Rabbis & community leaders who endorsed me. I would like to thank my parents for their financial & emotional support, even though they don’t live in our community and my brothers Yossi & Moshie for all their help. I would like to thank my wife’s parents & siblings for their support. And my wonderful children who helped me for this great cause. And last but never, ever least, I would like to thank my wife Esther, who has, and always will be my biggest supporter and my greatest strength.

Sincerely yours,
Menachem M. Raitport

16 Comments

  • yossi A

    GREAT job Mendy.
    Its a big shame that there had to be some people around CH that couldn’t bare seeing a fellow yid run/win for Assembly.
    As for DH coming from BP to endorse a felon and a anti semite, SHAME ON YOU
    Funny thing is, I’m sure he lost black votes because he was endorsed by a Yid!!!!! He got a total of 360 votes.

  • Mothers Day

    My mother who never (ever) went out to vote, voted for the first time this elections for Mendy.

    It can be done.

    The young roof top wine drinkers need to do some real work if they want to actually DO SOMETHING to effect change.

    Or they can just do what they have been doing these past few years and that is just have parties to make themselves feel good.

  • Ha-ko-ras Ha-tov

    Mendy

    Thank you, for your thank you.

    A voter.

    And YES, thank you Vaad Hakolol and all that stand by their side….

  • Uncle Mendel

    Abraham Lincoln failed at almost all (lost eight) of his elections.
    He finally succeeded at the most important and changed the country as our 16th President.
    Keep on Keepin’ on Mendel!
    Hatzlacha.

  • rz

    i think that we should all encourage everyone to register to vote. i suspect that many people could not vote because they are not registered.

    next time, sadly, i do not think that mend will do as well. he pointed out that there was no democratic candidate on the ballot due to some error with the paperwork. if there was a democratic candidate, i think mend would have lost by a larger margin.

  • Yanky BS

    What a shame!!!

    For YOUNG (and totally no experience) individuals to go OUTRIGHT disparage and insult a youngman from OUR community, is outrageous.

    What is MORE of a chutzpah, that in place of apologizing to the community for the “CHILUL HASHEM” they caused, they are busy writing comments on other websites and tweets.

    I sometimes agree and sometimes disagree with the Vaad and with the folks that give of their time to be a positive force in the shchuna, (Chanina etc.).

    But to go out and drag others down , is “poshut a rishas”……

    I want to end my comments on a positive note; Thank you Asskonim for your work and to the others, do Tshuva…..

    The truth will set you free.

  • what a mentsch

    thank you mendy for your hard work for this community. although u did not win the assembly seat, we are grateful to you, and like you said it’s a victory on a higher level. we wish you lots of hatzlacha and mazal in all future endeavors
    a grateful yid

  • A 1st class winner!

    Mendy, in a nutshell, you’re terrific!!
    Your public letter to all of us was beautiful,
    esp. your wife.
    In our books… YOU WON!!

  • BARUCH RUBINSTEIN

    They wouldn’t let me vote; said I was on the wrong side of eastern pkwy!

  • who are you kidding?

    Besides for my personal bias against him because of the truth of who & what he really is He is also delusional along with anyone who thinks there was a big or even satisfactory turn out The total vote in the election was app. 8,276 votes out of app. 50,000 registered voters in ch he got a little over 1600 between men women & bachurim over 18 registered to Vote in ch you have in my estimation app. 7- 10,000.00 registered voters from our community at least so lets say a few hundred at most voted for one off the other candidates that means the vote turn out from our community was app. 20- 25% at best this is acceptable? this is a victory? it’s pathetic the last election for Vaad Hakahaol 3 years ago produced app. triple the votes from the men alone! who are we kidding? it is embarrassing insulting & no wonder why CH is at the low end of the totem pole We need new & real leaders real unity Change from the top down get rid of all the old guard including the unelected big shots we need real people who can connect bring home the money needed push everyone to come out in droves in real #’s to vote for whomever we need to show we are a real community deserving of proper attention etc. 2000 or whatever the # is a joke it shows we are not serious regardless of who you vote for!

  • chaya

    Mendy, keep up the great work..you have such good ideas, and such sound practical advice that all people of all backgrounds will be better by knowing you.
    do not give up!!!!