There seemed to be one thing foremost on the minds of the Democrats gathered at CJ’s American Grill Saturday morning: how to keep Congressman Lee Zeldin from winning a second term in this November’s election.
Democratic congressional candidate hopefuls Anna Throne-Holst of Bridgehampton and Dave Calone of East Setauket were invited by the Southold Democratic Club for a meet and greet with constituents at the Mattituck restaurant ahead of the June 28 primary.
“This is an important part of the process,” Throne-Holst said. “We’re here to get Lee Zeldin to the status of a one-and-done congressmen, because that is what he has to be.”
Throne-Holst was up first, explaining to the more than thirty people gathered in the room why she believes she’s the better choice for their vote on June 28.
“I don’t need to belabor here the reasons for [wanting Zeldin out of office],” Throne-Holst said. “You all know: he’s a climate-change denier, he’s voted consistently to defund Planned Parenthood, he’s voted to privatize Medicare, he’s voted to defund Pell Grants, he jumps on every bandwagon he can find — Plum Island, for example — and then he tries to take credit for it.”
Calone agreed in his opening statement.
“I’m running because we need to beat Lee Zeldin.” Calone said. “We have a member of Congress who has been at the front of the Tea Party parade.”
Throne-Holst, a three-term Southampton Town Supervisor who has been involved in town government for eight years, emphasized her experience running in elections, claiming she’d have a better chance at taking down the Republican incumbent. She also talked about how she has fought to combat inefficiency in government, “reaching across the aisle” to work work with Republicans, something that would serve her in Congress.
“How do we take down Lee Zeldin? We put someone up against him who has run and won four times against Republicans with 60-40 margins, cross-aisle appeal,” Throne-Holst said. “That is the only way you win in this district.”
Calone, a venture capitalist focused on technology start-ups, former federal prosecutor and former chairman of the Suffolk County Planning Commission, talked about his longstanding progressive values that make him a good adversary to Zeldin. He also pointed out that his run on the Independence Party ticket could give him an extra three points in the election, which he said would be important in a close race.
“If we were winning this race by a lot, sure three points don’t matter,” Calone said. “But when it’s a ‘toss-up’ as they’re saying it will be, three points goes a long way.”
Throne-Holst said that, should she win the Democratic nomination, she’d approach the Independence party and “would be on their ticket.”
Calone disagreed.
“The Independence Party has made clear to me that if I am not the Democratic nominee, they will nominate Zeldin,” Calone said. “We have this sort of six percentage point swing based solely on who the Democratic nominee is. We need to put our best foot forward when it comes to beating Zeldin.”
“At the end of the day, elections are just math, getting one more vote than the other person, and I have a tremendous opportunity to do just that,” Calone said.
Rosellen Storm, of Southold said the decision between the two candidates would be “very difficult.”
“My question is: what are you specifically going to do that’s going to help us get him out of office? That’s the clearest thing we need to do,” she asked.
“Bottom line is: we need to take the fight to him,” Calone responded. “We need to articulate a message of progressive values… which I’ve been a champion of since I was a kid. We need to explain to people that we have a congressman that has voted the wrong way on the things that really matter to them.”
“This is a district that elects people who have a track record of serving the electorate,” Throne-Holst said, “Tim Bishop won his seat six times — why? Because he had great constituent outreach. He got the job done for people who came to his office… who needed help, and he won time and time again.”
At the end of the day, it’ll still be a hard decision for Storm, who said after the event that she’s leaning towards Throne-Holst.
“Zeldin is against everything I believe in,” Storm said. “I worry that the candidate that is going up against him has to be able to reach out to Republicans. It’s a tough decision, they’re both very qualified and very well-spoken.”
The two candidates have close stances on most issues as well, she said, making the decision even more difficult.
(For a list of their issues on positions, visit the candidate’s websites: http://caloneforcongress.com/ or http://annathrone-holst.com/.)
But should either candidate lose the primary on June 28, each has vowed to support the other in the race against Zeldin. Calone would drop his Independent-line run, he said, and Throne-Holst would encourage all of her supporters to vote for the Democratic nominee.
Audio of Throne-Holst, Calone and the question an answer session:
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