This article is an endorsement for congress of the Will Yandik, environmentalist, farmer and writer. Also, check out his facebook page here.
We have an open seat in the 19th congressional district, a district which consists of the rural parts of several counties in the lower parts of upstate New York State, Hudson Valley. Note I said the "rural parts." If New York and California were as ruthless in gerrymandering as Texas, this district wouldn't exist and congress would already have a democratic majority. To change the district form sing to solidly democratic, all you would need to do is to add a couple of blocks of either Troy or Poughkeepsie, just a few hundred more dems. It was designed to be a Republican district but it changed and New York State did not go back and fix the districts (gerrymander) in order to eliminate about four or five Republicans.
We have an open seat in the 19th congressional district, a district which consists of the rural parts of several counties in the lower parts of upstate New York State, Hudson Valley. Note I said the "rural parts." If New York and California were as ruthless in gerrymandering as Texas, this district wouldn't exist and congress would already have a democratic majority. To change the district form sing to solidly democratic, all you would need to do is to add a couple of blocks of either Troy or Poughkeepsie, just a few hundred more dems. It was designed to be a Republican district but it changed and New York State did not go back and fix the districts (gerrymander) in order to eliminate about four or five Republicans.
The seat is open because the current Republican congressman, Chris Gibson, is standing by his pledge to only serve two or maybe three terms. He was pretty popular and could have kept the seat in the R column but seems to be getting ready to run for governor or something.
Now, two candidates on the D side I know about are Zephyr Teachout and Will Yandik. Teachout moved to the district to run for the seat because it is open. She rented an apartment in Dover or somewhere in the southern most tip of the county that is commutable to New York City. Other parts of the district are three or four hours away from the city and more rural. The area she moved into is really the only solidly affluent part of the district. Will has been here his whole life and is on the town board. Teachout is better known in the state because of her challenge to Cuomo in the primary race for governor.
They both seems like good candidates. If Teachout had moved to the district, say, two years ago for some other reason than to run for office and if she had not chose to rent the apartment in the part of the district closest to New York City where she lives and how long she has lived in the district wouldn't matter. But it bothers me to think that she has to swoop in. We want people who understand that this is special place. Also, that fact that she chose the corner of the district closest to the city isn't a good sign, if I know anything about the people who live here.
Why didn't she move somewhere out near Cooperstown?
Why didn't she move somewhere out near Cooperstown?
Will Yandik is very strong on using our proximity to the city to build agro tourism. We want people to come here from the outside. We just want them to come to build our community, not to run for office right away. At least, I think that's the community sentiment.
I hope Will stays in the race and we have a primary. He is the kind of candidate that can win in this district. If we didn't have a great local candidate, I guess a new one could fly in.
Bernie Sanders moved from Brooklyn to Chicago to Burlington and ran for mayor, about 15 years after moving to Vermont, not two months.
My opinion!
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