EXCLUSIVE: The WHY Behind Endorsing Brian Cunningham In The Special Election
Crown Heights Healthcare Executive and activist Yosef Hershkop explains to the community the reasons behind the Crown Heights United Endorsement of Democratic candidate Brian Cunningham in the Special Election Tuesday.
Dear community,
Many of you have reached out to me to ask about the special election that’s taking place tomorrow Tuesday March 22nd. Since time is of essence I will be extremely brief and hopefully my words will help you make an educated decision as to what you should do.
The former State assemblymember for our district Diana Richardson resigned from her seat in order to accept a new position as Deputy Brooklyn Borough president. The governor called a special election, as required by law. Every registered voter in assembly district 43rd can vote, even if they are a Republican or independent. The 213 members of our state legislative bodies (state assembly & state senate) have tremendous power over the more than $200 billion dollar state budget and state laws.
I will boldly state that our community’s presence here is at risk if these seats continue to be won by far leftists. We saw what happened just in the last five years, it doesn’t take a long time for quality of life and religious rights to be harmed. If we come out to vote in big numbers (and hopefully our candidate wins) it will send a message across the state that:
a) The Hasidic vote can’t be taken for granted and Hasidim actually show up and vote.
b) We have needs and if those needs aren’t met by our elected officials we will put up our own candidates and win (and we will finally have the proof that we can do it).
c) We will have elected two out of the four elected officials in our neighborhood (city council /state assembly). The other two seats (state senate /congress) are up for re-election this summer and our votes will be in big demand unlike the current reality.
The reality right now is that we have a reputation of not voting and that the one time we voted in big numbers was just because one of the candidates was pro BDS.
Now as to why we are endorsing Brain Cunningham over his opponents I will give two answers:
a) He is representing the moderate wing of the dem party and it would be terrible for us to stay home and hand a free win to the far left, the winner of local races such as this one have huge influence on the direction of the entire state.
b) During covid he wasn’t employed by any elected official or government agency and isn’t tarnished as a result of that. Right now I don’t believe being a Cuomo /Hochul employee (as his main opponent was) is something that should excite us. Most importantly he’s reassured us that he’s on our side on the issues most important to us and will use his influence to advocate those views with the Mayor (whom he’s very close with) and all state and city agencies. Those concerns are 1. The covid vaccine mandates. I’m talking about specific government overreach with regards to enforcement. 2. Government encroaching on our yeshivas. 3. Fixing bail reform and moving towards CJR as advocated by our REBBE and not the unsafe version that’s currently the law in New York State.
I have no doubt that a win by Mr. Cunningham with our support will be the only science that Mayor Adams needs before getting off of the covid mandates train. The absolute best way for us to get that message to him is by voting tomorrow. Our views on the other key issues will also be made known in a loud way if we show up big. The media will be watching and so will elected officials of all levels, we are always complaining that we don’t get taken as seriously as other communities. The biggest reason is our joke voter turnout.
Last point many people have asked if we make up such a significant portion of the voters in this race why didn’t we put up our own candidate there’s really only two answers. a) we would have won the special election but lost the primary in June. b) Anyone of us could have signed up to run, the fact that none of us did is our problem. That said, this is something we can absolutely do in a few years from now once we build up a strong record of high voting turnout, till then our job is to support the candidates whose views align with us on as many key issues as possible, and to not show any fear when it comes to publicly endorsing and actually showing up to vote.
Please take 7 minutes of your time tomorrow anytime between 6:00am and 9:00pm and go out and
vote, your voting station is the same as during last election day.
Yosef Hershkop
AH
Ikar chaser min hasefer. Given that this is expected to be a low-turnout election, why shouldn’t enough of us vote for the Republican candidate to get him elected? What makes us think we can trust the promises of this Cunningham fellow any more than we could trust Adams’ or any other Democrat?
Yosef
The ‘Republican’ candidate hasn’t made a single effort to get our vote and the small group of GOP chabad activists have never heard of him. Also even with the small turnaround its highly unlikely for him to win and even if he does he’d hold it for only 6 months. For lack of a better word he’s a POLITICAL GADFLY…
Yossi
I will definitely vote, this is my turn to have my voice heard, as we have seen elections have huge consequences.
Where?
Can all of Crown Heights vote, or only those South of Eastern Parkway? Where are the polling places?
Berel
I will vote and I’ve shared this this article on my signal groups but wow what a miserable get out the vote effort. I hadn’t heard of the election until now and voting is tomorrow.
We did everything right in the previous election and had record turnout but now it’s same old same old.
We need to do much better
Yanky
We can’t ever win, any candidate, unless we pick someone who’s values also appeals to the majority of voters in c.h., which is the Black community.
The Black community is haunted by old memories of unethical medical experiments on them, years ago and accordingly, they don’t support forced medical mandates.
If we have a candidate who is against forced vaccine mandates, then we have the Black vote
Michoel
If Brian Cunningham supports going against forced vaccine mandates? Then he should say so. And this should be publicised.
The Chassidic community are no linger blind followers, who will come out to vote for anyone, just because “Chanina says so”.
We the Chassisic community are fed up, with individuals un our community, expecting us to vote just because THEY said so.
Tell us the candidates polic
Anthony Beckford
Yes, vote for Brian Cunningham. He has shown that he is a true unifier and is focused on solving many of the issues that Crown Heights faces.
Find your polling site here: findmypollsite.vote.nyc
YW
Both Cunningham and the other Dem candidate were endorsed by Progressives, right there on their websites–see for yourself.
That leaves us with the third candidate, a republican who is NOT aligned with progressives.
Maybe the Crown Hts. PAC is into being “woke” — supporting a lot of things that go against Torah.
I, for one, prefer the Republican approach.
Thanks, but no thanks Rabbi Hershkop.