Maloney Rallies Support on the UWS for Re-Election

At the steps of the American Museum of Natural History on Sunday, incumbent Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney received backing from a sea of Manhattan’s elected officials, in her District 12 re-election campaign. “I never walk away from a fight,” said Maloney, whose district has historically encompassed the Upper East Side. “Let’s go out and win.”

New York’s Congressional District 12 was recently re-drawn, in a contentious process following the most recent census, to include more of Manhattan’s West Side, from a block-wide strip of the Upper West Side along Central Park to Chelsea, Greenwich Village and SoHo. There could be further change in the district if any of Maloney’s challengers — ranging from Justice Democrats-backed Rana Abdelhamid to third-time hopeful Suraj Patel — manage to disrupt long-standing voting trends before the primary election at the end of June.

As of this weekend, Maloney welcomed an outpouring of political support from Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, State Senator Cordell Cleare, Assembly Members Dick Gottfried and Linda Rosenthal, Council Member Gale Brewer and others. A common thread in their remarks was a focus on Maloney’s role as a pioneering woman in politics; originally elected to Congress in 1992, she has been the first woman to represent District 12 and to chair the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and, formerly, the Joint Economic Committee.

“We fight because we know that women’s voices at the table mean something,” Cleare said. “For years, Carolyn has been there and she’s been someone for us to follow.”

The event highlighted Maloney’s wealth of experience and political seniority as a bolster to her ability to make an impact going forward. Speakers lauded her many achievements while in Congress, including her dedication to funding the city’s public transportation, her support of survivors in the wake of 9/11 and her tough stance more recently on Russian oligarchs with property in the city, as war in Ukraine rages on. Beyond her political contributions, supporters centered Maloney, first and foremost, as a venerated member of the local community.

“She’s really a human being, inviting people to her home all the time to socialize, to gather,” Council Member Brewer said. “Not everybody does that.”