A recent tweet by a New York state senator indicated that older senators who are ‘beyond childbearing age’ had ‘less fight’ than their younger counterparts and will not fight as hard for reproductive rights provoked outrage.
Biaggi, 36, tweeted the Twitter thread last month, which prompted immediate outrage; but, the spark was sparked last week when the progressive candidate accepted and shared an attack mailer against her, reviving her initial message. Progressive candidate Biaggi, who ran on a promise of generational change, tweeted on July 5: “At the risk of seeming ageist, it’s still important to ask: how fierce can we expect their fight to be when the majority of Congress is past childbearing age?”
Biaggi wrote in a subsequent tweet that “elders” have significance but must make room for new leaders.
This week, the thread emerged in the midst of Biaggi’s Democratic primary campaign to unseat five-term Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, reigniting criticism ahead of Tuesday’s primary election.
Biaggi uploaded a photograph of the mailer containing the message, “All of us ‘beyond childbearing age’ have one word for Alessandra Biaggi: goodbye.” She then expressed gratitude to Hudson PAC for posting one of her “best tweets.”
Biaggi, who is the granddaughter of former Bronx Congressman Mario Biaggi and served as Assistant General Counsel in the administration of former Governor Andrew Cuomo, has spent three years in the New York State Legislature representing the Bronx and Westchester and fighting sexual harassment and police abuse.
This week, Biaggi revived her own tweet by posting a post citing a PAC associated with her opponent Maloney and including an image of a flyer that displayed her tweet.
“Hudson PAC, thank you for sharing one of my finest tweets,” Biaggi tweeted earlier this week in a post that elicited a multitude of comments. Many women in the area, which covers Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester counties, were outraged by Biaggi’s remarks. Harriet Cornell, a member of the Rockland County Legislature, stated that she was “shocked” by Biaggi’s remarks. She said that she feels older women are just as powerful as younger legislators.
Cornell of West Nyack said she would vote for Maloney and was astonished to hear a Democrat say’something derogatory to senior ladies.’
‘Women of different ages offer valuable experiences to their lives and to local government,’ said Cornell, a Democrat of 89 years, by telephone on Friday. “I am pleased with my age”
Assemblywoman Sandy Galef, 82, a longtime Maloney supporter, described Biaggi’s statements as offensive.
The Democrat continued, ‘I believe she is slightly out of touch with reality. She should have just apologized and stated that her behavior was inappropriate.
Suzanne Berger, the 65-year-old chairperson of the Westchester County Democratic Committee, stated, “You must know when to hold and when to fold.”
She stated that she supports Maloney.
Monica Klein, Biaggi’s campaign spokesperson, stated in a statement that Biaggi ‘believes our government should be as diverse as our country — encompassing racial, economic, gender, and age diversity — which is why we need more young people in Congress’
Mia Ehrenberg, a spokesman for Maloney’s campaign, responded on Friday: “While Senator Biaggi alienates and offends voters throughout the Hudson Valley with her ageist comments, Rep. Maloney is winning this race by building a strong grassroots coalition,” Ehrenberg said in a statement, as reported by the New York Daily News. According to limited polling, Biaggi, who is supported by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, trails in the House contest.
Biaggi, like Ocasio-Cortez, has a history of challenging prominent, more moderate members of her party and advocates for an aggressive, working-class philosophy.
In the same radical wave of 2018 that sent Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez to government, Biaggi defeated a longtime state senator renowned for leading a group of Democrats who collaborated with Republicans. She hopes to defeat Maloney using a similar grassroots strategy and passion for change.
Like she roused a group of campaign workers in Sleepy Hollow for a weekend of door-knocking, she declared, “I’ll be on those doors, just as I have been every single weekend, knocking them off the hinges and pushing through every single inch.”
She is also banking on the peculiar circumstances surrounding the primary election next week. It’s the second primary election that New Yorkers have had this summer, after the first attempt at redistricting was thrown out by the courts. The primary for governor and other statewide positions was held in June, but the primary for congressional contests was delayed until August 23 so that new districts could be created.
New Yorkers are not accustomed to voting in two primary, especially one in late August, when many are on vacation, and the new maps may leave them unfamiliar with their new district lines and who is deemed an incumbent, which might offer an opening for an activist candidate like Biaggi.
Ten years ago, Maloney, then 56 years old, was viewed as a rising Democratic star when he was first elected to the House. As New York’s first out gay congressman, he was in the forefront of a new Democratic Party making inroads well beyond its metropolitan base.
Next week, however, he will face the principal challenge of Biaggi, who has sought to depict Maloney as an out-of-touch establishment operator.
While Maloney has represented portions of the newly-drawn 17th District, Biaggi represents none of it in her state Senate position and has relocated approximately 15 miles to the north.
Maloney came north from New York City when he ran for the first time to represent the region ten years ago, but he is keen to point out that he and his husband already owned a second house in the area at the time.
In an interview, he said of Biaggi, ‘She has every right to run, but people have a right to know that her district is 95% in the Bronx and I represent several hundred thousand people in our area.’
Maloney and his supporters have portrayed her as too far to the left for the district, citing her support for the ‘defund the cops’ message adopted by liberals in 2020 amid a greater national struggle over race and policing.
Biaggi has stated in interviews that she no longer uses the term because it does not effectively communicate the need for police changes. Her campaign has provided its volunteers with talking points regarding her usage of the word, emphasizing that her grandpa was a decorated police officer and that she said it in response to the horrifying video of the murder of George Floyd.
Cori Marquis, a Biaggi campaign staffer, said to volunteers in Sleepy Hollow as they prepared to knock on doors and pitch voters: ‘This was like, in the heat of the moment, when she observed a really awful situation and tweeted it, because we don’t need to shy away from that.’ She has made it quite evident via her words, deeds, and policies that she is truly dedicated to collaborating with all stakeholders to change our criminal justice system.
In 2020, the new congressional district was won by Biden by a margin of 5 points, although the northern portions of the district, which Maloney represents, are predominantly Republican and Donald Trump won his district in 2016. Maloney gained his present seat from a Republican a decade ago and has held on to it ever since, which he claimed was ‘not a given for a gay man with a mixed-race family. According to him, voters there desire a candidate who can both work across the aisle and defeat Republicans.
Maloney’s work on cross-party issues has prompted opposition from members of his own party, including severe criticism from Biaggi.
Maloney, who chairs the House Democrats’ campaign arm, spent $425,000 on a Michigan commercial supporting the far-right opponent of U.S. Rep. Peter Meijer, one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.
Maloney stated that Meijer’s loss to a candidate favored by Trump has only strengthened the chances of the Democratic nominee in December. However, many of his own party caution that it was a risky gamble.
Biaggi stated, ‘It gives the impression that the Democrats are playing a game, but it is not a game.’ It epitomizes everything that people despise about politics, in my opinion.
Maloney stated that he understands the controversy around the strategy, but defended it.
“My job is to secure seats,” We have a greater chance of winning that seat after the primary than we had before. And it is my job to do so. He stated, “Finish!”