Democrats Split On Party Endorsement, Leaving CD-17 Challenger Choice Up To Voters

By Barrett Seaman–

With two months to go before the June 23^rd primary, Democratic activists and party officials in District 17 are entering the phase in which local and county committees are meeting to decide whether to endorse a candidate to take on incumbent Republican Mike Lawler—and if so which one.

A number of local Town and City committees have recently announced their endorsements: Peekskill, Lewisboro, Ossining and Pound Ridge have all endorsed Ossining’s Cait Conley; Town committees in Bedford and Somers and North Salem voted to endorse Beth Davidson of Nyack, while Tarrytown’s committee endorsed village trustee Effie Phillips-Staley. On the county level, Rockland endorsed Davidson while Dutchess sided with Conley. On Monday evening, April 20, the Putnam County committee also voted to endorse Conley.

The Westchester County Democratic Committee, however, which has more clout in the overall district count because it represents more party members, decided not to endorse any candidate. “The Executive Committee decided not to make an endorsement at this time,” committee chair Suzanne Berger wrote in an announcement, “and all members pledged to support the winner of the June 23 Democratic Primary.”

In practical terms, only three viable candidates remain—Davidson, Conley and Phillips-Staley. Candidates Mike Sacks of Peekskill and John Capello of Suffern have garnered neither the donations nor the endorsements needed to sustain their campaigns. Former candidate Peter Chatzky of Briarcliff Manor suspended his campaign, citing bias against him on the part of Democratic Party leadership.

Chatzky is not alone in faulting the party bosses for putting its collective thumb on the scale. In her words, taken from a letter delivered at the county committee’s April 15 meeting, Phillips-Staley said she “felt that this body has worked to undermine my candidacy rather than facilitate a democratic process.”

At the core of Phillips-Staley’s complaint, as outlined in her letter, was the committee’s reaction to her critical stance on the Israeli military’s offensive in Gaza, illustrated by a podcast appearance with controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker. “That is not the ‘Big Tent’ party we must become. It is a candidate’s job to win a primary; it is not the party’s job to prevent it by denying the voters a choice,” Phillips-Staley wrote to the committee. “I am choosing to take my case directly to the voters. I believe in a party that invites people in, not one that works to exclude.”

Gaza has become the Democrats’ third rail in the coming election cycle—nationally but especially in District 17, where Jewish voters make up nearly 20% of the electorate and where Orthodox communities in Rockland County tend to vote as a bloc—and have done so in past election cycles for Republican Mike Lawler. Opposition to the Netanyahu government’s take-no-prisoners offensive, however, has forged a solid bloc within the progressive wing of the party.

The two acknowledged leaders in the race, Davidson and Conley, have fashioned policies on Gaza that are more nuanced and less blunt than Phillips-Staley’s. Their standing in recent polls, where they are separated by only one or two percentage points, leave the Tarrytown trustee as a distant third. According to some participants, the tightness of the race at the top weighed heavily in the executive committee’s deliberations. The concern was that choosing one of these over the other risked dividing the party in an election where party unity could well make the difference.

As a result, nearly half the voting members chose to abstain. The final tally was 40% for Conley, two percent for Davidson and 48% for “abstain,” many of which represented Davidson supporters who wished to avoid breaching the fifty percent threshold needed to endorse.

The split within local Democrats in some ways leaves the door open for Phillips-Staley, who, according to her advisor, political consultant John Tomlin, has a growing cadre of volunteers and enthusiasm generated from within the progressive wing of the party. With no district-wide endorsement coming, the decision as to who will take on Mike Lawler will come from the voters who turn out on June 23^rd. “Sometimes,” commented Assembly member MaryJane Shimsky (with a hint of irony), “it’s best to let democracy play out.”

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