Join the " Brown Bag Lunch Vigils!

Join the "Healthcare NOT Warfare" campaign!

Put your change to work!

California Nurses Association

National Priorities Project

CD Point People

Find yours here.

Social Community

Action Alerts

Take action now!

Congress Schedule

Click here for the Congressional Schedule

Elections 2008

PDA Campaign News RSS Feed

Single Payer Candidates

Harrison, Steve (NY)

Running for Congress in District 13

Harrison Succumbs to McMahon in New York's 13th CD

Despite the best efforts of the PDA NY CD13 chapter, and PDA volunteers across the country, DCCC candidate Mike McMahon defeated PDA-endorsed Healthcare NOT Warfare candidate Steve Harrison in the September 9 primary.

These are Harrison's remarks:

The people of the 13th have spoken…

I remember President Jimmy Carter saying that he would be lying if he did not say that it hurt when he was defeated by Ronald Reagan. I know how it feels. I am hurt. I fought hard for the people of this district when times were tough and I do wish they had given me the chance to fight for them now. But that is simply not to be. [more]

Published July 28, 2008, by the New York Times.

In the aftermath of the soap-operalike spectacle that led to the decision by Representative Vito J. Fossella to not seek another term in Congress, much of the attention has centered on the troubles that his fellow Republicans have had in finding a candidate to succeed him in the 13th CongressionalDistrict.

While the Republicans have endured a highly visible era of disunity, the Democrats in the district, which includes Staten Island and part of Brooklyn, are not exactly in lock step. In fact, they are now preparing for a hotly contested primary between two candidates cut from decidedly different cloth. [more]

Steve Harrison, who is runnig for Congress in New York's 13th Congressional District, has received a flurry of endorsements recently including a 2800+ person strong independent New York City group that's part of the national grassroots network founded by Howard Dean.  Other recent Harrison endorsements include two African American political leaders, a union president and Staten Island and Brooklyn district leaders.
 
Democracy for New York City (DFNYC), which is part of a coalition of independent grassroots groups nationwide belonging to the Democracy for America" (DFA) network, has endorsed Harrison with an unprecedented 100 percent of the vote.  DFA was founded by Democratic National Committee chair and former presidential candidate Howard Dean and is run by his brother Jim. 
 
Organizer Tracy Denton says her organization will provide troops for Harrison. [more]

The campaign for Steve Harrison is quickly gaining momentum, in large part because of the strong grassroots network supporting him. And his Republican opponent Vito Fossella is helping, too. Due to the recent and rapid demise of Fossella  (see the New York Newsday article linked here), the 13th District is now a toss-up, with the possibility of a special election that could take place as early as this summer.

This news is certain to raise questions in the voters’ minds this year about their current Congressman and will add to the momentum of Steve Harrison’s anti-war, pro-universal health care campaign. On May 22, Staten Island Democrats vote at their county committee convention, and there is confidence amongst rank and file Dems that Harrison will win the full support of the county committee. The actual Democratic primary will take place in September. [more]

February 24-- At a meeting at the Armory Inn in Westerleigh the local chapter of Progressive Democrats of America, representing the 13th Congressional District, voted unanimously tonight to endorse Steve Harrison for Congress. Harrison spoke to the group about the importance of defending the principles of the U.S. Constitution and the need to create real energy independence in the United States, including revitalizing our manufacturing capabilities in the process. After his talk, he fielded several questions in a lively Q&A session.

In response to the PDA candidate questionnaire, Harrison responded, “Our current Congressperson, Vito Fossella, poorly represents our district. As NYC's only House Republican, Fossella votes with Bush and against our interests 90% of the time. He supports Bush's fiscal policy that has cut critical middle class programs, while bankrupting this country. And he wants to indefinitely continue the failed war in Iraq, which costs us billions of dollars and countless American lives.”  [more]

Current Campaign Directory
Complete Campaign Archives