NEW YORK — Just hours before Election Day, New York City candidates in two of the most tightly contested congressional races of the election cycle pounded the pavement one last time in a final push to get out the vote.
They hit the West Side, the East Side, uptown, downtown and all around Brooklyn.
The goal? Push as many registered voters to the polls on Tuesday and make one last pitch that they’re the right person for the job.
The outcome of the two races is hardly set in stone.
In the three-way race to win Congressional District 12 — which encompasses the West and East Sides — Rep. Jerry Nadler, Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Suraj Patel are vying to see which Democrat will represent one of the wealthiest districts in the country.
To the south, in the 10th Congressional District, which covers lower Manhattan and swaths of western Brooklyn, the field’s a bit larger. There, former prosecutor Dan Goldman, New York City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, a Manhattan Democrat, Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., former Rep. Liz Holtzman and state Assembly members Yuh-Line Niou, a Manhattan Democrat, and Jo Anne Simon, a Brooklyn Democrat, are all racing to see who will emerge victorious in what amounts to a rarity in city politics: a congressional election that does not feature an incumbent.
On Monday, the candidates made their final push.
In the East Village, Patel held what he billed as his “closing press conference” to drive home his point that the race represents “the first time in 30 years” that voters are getting a competitive choice — not just an incumbent running to hold onto more time in office.
“There’s an urgency out there. And I’m urging you to go out and vote with the same urgency,” Patel said. “Tomorrow’s the day to shatter history, to shake the earth right here in New York City and send out a ripple of hope.”
Further uptown on the Upper East Side, Maloney spoke near the Second Avenue subway — a project she was instrumental in getting over the finish line and which she’s sparred with Nadler over who should get credit. Maloney attempted to rally women voters, calling on Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who endorsed Nadler, to show that “you are a leader for women” by finding the votes to pass the Equal Rights Amendment.
“It’s time to schedule and find the votes for the ERA since the House has already passed and sent to you our resolution,” she said.
Maloney ducked reporters’ questions, though, after making those remarks and could be seen getting into a blue Mini Cooper as reporters shouted queries her way.
Nadler, who is now considered the favorite thanks to endorsements from The New York Times and Schumer, laid low Monday. He had no appearances in the morning and was expected to campaign at a Fairway on the Upper West Side later in the evening.
In the 10th Congressional District contest, that race’s front-runner, Dan Goldman, also appeared to play things relatively safe. Goldman, who received the coveted Times endorsement as well, didn’t release a public schedule the day before the election, opting instead to announce by press release that he’d been endorsed by two obscure political clubs, the Phil Reed Democratic Club and the East Harlem Democratic Club.
Later in the day, Goldman appeared at the Union Square greenmarket, shaking hands and handing out campaign lit.
Jones and campaign volunteers went door to door on the Lower East Side to encourage voters to come out for him the next day. Jones’ camp threw a little shade Goldman’s way for using his personal fortune to fund his run.
“The next two days are about talking to as many people as possible and focusing on our closing message,” his spokesman Bill Neidhardt said. “Mondaire Jones is a proven progressive champion and Dan Goldman is a conservative intent on buying a congressional seat.”
Rivera also hit the Lower East Side, which she represents in the City Council, greeting straphangers at the Delancey St.-Essex St. subway station.
“The plan right now is getting out the vote,” she said. “We’re making calls, we’re on social media — I actually just came from knocking on doors ... My record and the relationships that I’ve been building over time, I think that’s what’ll show up tomorrow at the poll sites.”
Simon, who expects her Assembly district to turn out in large numbers, focused her attention on Brooklyn, hitting Pacific Street and the Red Hook Houses.
Holtzman spoke to voters at Sheridan Square and focused on her plans to restore abortion rights.
“I’m the only candidate in this race that’s called for immediate action against the Supreme Court and who has laid out a 10-point plan to help these millions of women,” she said.
After canvassing in Tompkins Square Park and Manhattan’s Chinatown on Monday, Niou greeted passersby on a street corner in Park Slope. She made sure to point out that she came in second behind Goldman in a recent poll.
“We’re getting a lot of good feedback. But I think that there’s also a lot of folks that didn’t even know that there was an election,” she said. “We’re just trying our best to make sure that people are aware that we are the Working Families Party candidate. And that we are the person who is polling the highest or second highest in every single poll.”
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(Tim Balk contributed to this report.)
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