Nadler Endorses Biaggi



Congressman Jerry Nadler joined the anti-IDC battle, endorsing Alessandra Biaggi in her primary campaign against incumbent Senator Jeff Klein.  Klein leads the conference of breakaway Democratic state senators who have allied themselves with the Republican conference for much of the last seven years.  (In April Klein and Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins joined Governor Cuomo to announce that the IDC would dissolve and reunify with the Senate Democratic conference.)  Nadler and Biaggi appeared together Thursday at the Tortoise and Hare sculpture in Van Cortlandt Park.

Nadler has previously endorsed just one of the eight anti-IDC candidates running against IDC members in September primaries (Robert Jackson).  Nadler, a leading liberal among House Democrats, spoke highly of Biaggi’s political and government experience, but he emphasized that she’s “a candidate we can trust and depend on to serve our values … on every issue we care about.” Without naming Jeff Klein Nadler condemned Democrats getting “crumbs” when aligning with Republicans.

Nadler said that he has not worked with Biaggi (she was in the Cuomo administration) and that he was endorsing her based on her positions rather than an established relationship.  He also said that he doesn’t know Klein, with any interaction limited to handshakes at political events.

Nadler has endorsed Governor Cuomo in his reelection bid and disagreed with the notion that the anti-IDC candidates are broadly anti-Cuomo, saying that the anti-IDC candidates generally “see eye to eye” with the governor “on most programatic issues.”  Nadler said that he has not, and does not intend to, endorse in the lieutenant governor or attorney general primaries.

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