Rockland Goes to Vote

An anti-establishment furor pervades the air as New York opens its 2020 primary election season.

Voters head to the polls next Tuesday to choose party nominees for a slate of offices ranging from the state general assembly and senate to the US Congress. The Jewish community has its eyes locked on three races in particular: Veteran congressmen Eliot Engel and Jerry Nadler face primary challengers from their party’s left flank. Will the progressives harness the new socialist mood and oust two of the longest-serving Democrats?

But the race in Rockland County to replace the retiring Congresswoman Nita Lowey is becoming a big story. Sixty percent of the district is in Westchester County, including the yeshivah enclave of Mount Kisco, with the rest in Rockland, encompassing frum areas such as Monsey and Spring Valley.

The race is wide open, with no polling to guide analysts. The candidates seen as having the best chances are Assemblyman David Buchwald, State Senator David Carlucci, and attorney Adam Schleifer. Governor Andrew Cuomo has been trying to marshal support for Schleifer, while Carlucci has the greatest name recognition — though his former support for the anti-yeshivah Yaffed group all but disqualifies him as a viable candidate for frum Jews.