Northwest Bronx Indivisible thought it had pulled off a miracle — getting New York State Senator Jeff Klein (SD-34) to make a joint appearance at a Town Hall with his primary opponent Alessandra Biaggi. It was to have been at 3:30pm this afternoon. Klein has been bitterly criticized for creating the Independent Democratic Conference, disbanded just this month, that worked with Republicans to control the New York State Senate. Biaggi’s grandfather, Mario Biaggi, was an NYPD officer who at the time of his retirement was the most decorated NYPD officer ever, and had then served ten terms in Congress as a conservative Democrat. Unfortunately he also was corrupt and was convicted of multiple corruption charges. (Among his prosecutors was Rudy Giuliani!) His successor was Eliot Engel, at the opposite end of the political spectrum from the elder Biaggi, and is still in Congress, now running for re-election to his 16th term. Alessandra Biaggi is politically much more like Engel than her grandfather; she was 2 years old when her grandfather left Congress.
Biaggi showed up. Klein did not. He sent a statement that he was campaigning for Shelly Mayer, Democratic candidate in SD-34, that was read to the clearly disappointed crowd. So Biaggi had the entire time to herself. You can watch the entire event here.
I was in the live audience. Biaggi showed enthusiasm and repeatedly expressed a desire to work with others to solve problems. She endorsed a lot of progressive policies but did not come off as dogmatic. She was not asked tough questions about fiscal policy or how to fix the MTA, both tough areas. She impressed me as someone who would likely make an effective state senator. Tonight I sent her a contribution; you can do so here.