Democrats say focus is on Faso, not Trump
Several Democrats who have local leadership positions in New York’s 19th Congressional District don’t view the upcoming election in the district as a race against President Donald Trump. Rather, they see it as a race against an incumbent who they say won’t hold Trump responsible for unwanted policies and offenses serious enough to merit removal from the White House.
“Virtually everything we believe in as Democrats are at risk,” Ulster County Executive Michael Hein said after a Sunday cam- paign rally in Kingston for Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
“Let’s not dance around this issue,” Hein said. “I think Donald Trump is the worst president we have ever had in the history of the United States of America.”
Two weeks ago, 19th District Rep. John Faso, RKinderhook, said impeaching Republican Trump is a top priority for Democratic candidates. And he stood by that contention in a phone interview
Monday.
“From my watching the Democratic minority here in the House, I believe if they were in the majority, one of their first agenda items will be to move toward impeachment,” the first-term congressman said. “I think the ... base in the Democratic party is going to demand it.”
But the word “impeachment” is not being used publicly by prominent Democrats, including the seven seeking the party’s nomination to challenge Faso. Instead, they point to the what they see as Trump tainting their GOP counterparts’ political positions.
Village of Red Hook Mayor Ed Blundell, a Democrat, said Democratic congressional candidates are running against “Trumpism”
and how the president represents something diametrically different from the beliefs of most people.
And “I’m not sure it’s just Trump,” Blundell said. “Historically, what used to be the Rockefeller Republican were the party of power in Red Hook, and there’s none of them left. It seems the party has changed right underneath them ... and a lot of friends of mine are puzzled what’s going on with their party.”
Town of Red Hook Supervisor Robert McKeon, also a Democrat, said congressional candidates are caught between recognizing the issues faced by residents in their district and the idea that they are running against Trump and an incumbent congressman who supports the president.
“I’m sure [running against Trump] is part of the energy within the Democratic Party,” he said. “I think it’s very clear that, [to] New Yorkers, our liberties feel threatened by what the president and Washington are enacting.”
Democratic Ulster County Comptroller Elliot Auerbach credited Cuomo for identifying the issues that lead the party’s agenda, and he said those issues are a “call to arms” in congressional campaigns. And he said that if Democratic congressional candidates are seen as running against Trump, it’s because of the president’s policies.
“I see this as an off-year election that really has taken in some of the ills that are being created in Washington, D.C., that affect New Yorkers,” Auerbach said. “The president happens to be Donald Trump, so is this directly aimed at the president who heads up the federal government.”
Gareth Rhodes, one of seven Democrats seeking to challenge Faso, said he is running against the local congressman, not the president.
“This is a congressional race against John Faso and everything that [House] Republicans have been doing
to work against New York, to take away our health care, raise taxes on New Yorkers, and this race is about repealing and replacing John Faso,” Rhodes said.
Pressed on what actions, if any, should be taken against Trump, Rhodes said his effort to unseat Faso is about the inability of the congressman to recognize how disturbed the public is about the president.
“This absolutely is about standing up to Donald Trump,” he said. “It’s about standing up to Donald Trump and holding the president accountable. But this race, our race, is focused on John Faso.”
Rhodes said he would like to see special counsel Robert Mueller finish his investigation into whether there was collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia before there is any discussion about whether Trump should be impeached.
“I want to wait until the Mueller probe is completed so we know all the facts,” Rhodes said. “But it’s extraordinarily disturbing [that] I think the man who occupies the Oval Office has perhaps colluded. These are extraordinary, troubling allegations.”
Faso said he agrees that Mueller should be allowed to finish the investigation but also said he has seen nothing makes him believe the Trump campaign colluded with Russia.
“There has not been any proof of a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Russians to alter or impact the results of the 2016 elections,” he said.
The Democratic primary in the 19th District is scheduled for June 26. Besides Rhodes, the candidates are Jeff Beals, David Clegg, Erin Collier, Anthony Delgado, Brian Flynn and Partick Ryan.
“I’m sure [running against Trump] is part of the energy within the Democratic Party. I think it’s very clear that, [to] New Yorkers, our liberties feel threatened by what the president and Washington are enacting.” — Town of Red Hook Supervisor Robert McKeon