I am camped out on Long Island for New York Week #1. Today, we move closer to the city and an open seat that needs defending. the GQP nominated the same person as in 2020, while the Democratic Party nominated an untested candidate as their standard bearer. In what will be a close race, Majority Savers highlights New York’s 3rd district and Robert Zimmerman!
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Robert Zimmerman for New York-3
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Candidate Background
The only place I could find information about Robert Zimmerman was his campaign website. Hopefully he will be added to Red to Blue now that his primary campaign is over, because this is an open seat at risk and he qualifies for that program.
- He graduated with an MBA from Fordham University, and has a small business in ZE Creative Communications that has been successful for upwards of 30 years. This business experience is one of the many things he touts as qualifying him for Congress.
- He has worked for many different members of Congress from Long Island or Queens, first as an senior aide, and then as an advisor. He has been behind the scenes in Congress for a long time, and that experience will give him a leg up on other freshmen members of Congress.
- He was elected to the DNC recently, where he worked to change the superdelegate system and to make the party less reliant on corporate donations than previously. He is someone who loves reforming, and he will take that energy to Congress.
Signature Issues
As a Jewish person who is also a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Zimmerman will be strong on diversity issues. He is likely to be much more progressive than the man he is replacing in Rep. Tom Suozzi. He will be strong on abortion, health care, and defending democracy like many others I have written about. Let’s see what other issues he brings up on his issues page.
Pandemic Preparedness: I hadn’t seen this issue brought up by other candidates, but Zimmerman lists it on his issues page. Biden has an $81 billion plan that includes better filtration for schools and hospitals, fully fund biosecurity and biosafety to combat infectious disease, and many more items.
Diplomacy and Human Rights: Zimmerman will be more hawkish than your average Democratic member of Congress, as he sees America still having a special role to play in world stability. He would support NATO and the other democracies against autocrats worldwide. This includes staunch support for Israel.
Gun Violence: Zimmerman was aghast at the Supreme Court’s decision to neuter some of the toughest gun safety laws in the nation. He has a whole list of policy planks on his site, including reinstating the assault weapons ban and also tracking down ghost guns and getting them off of the streets. He would strengthen red flag laws and institute a 30 day gun purchase waiting period too.
Elections History
Recent Elections —
2020 President: Joe Biden (D) 53.4%, TFG (R-inc) 45.3%
2020 House: Tom Suozzi (D-inc) 56.0%, George Santos (R) 43.5%
2022 Race Rating: Leans Democratic
2022 PVI: D+2
This district covers northern Nassau County and parts of Queens. It is a district that has been redrawn and pushed to the right slightly for 2020 redistricting, making it more competitive. The old district was on the edge of being competitive, but there was never a close race since Rep. Steve Israel won the district in 2000.
This district was carried by Al Gore in 2000, which aided the win above after the incumbent left and ran for the Senate seat open that year. GW Bush won the district very narrowly in 2004, likely due to 9/11. Rep. Israel still didn’t have any problems with his re-elections even through that. Obama easily carried the district in 2008 and Rep. Israel didn’t sweat the 2010 red wave either.
The last decade brought in a district that was considerably more red than previously. Obama only narrowly carried the district against Romney, and it was thought that Rep. Israel would have a torrid time in 2014. That proved not to be the case, even though it was his last race. In 2016, Tom Suozzi had a difficult time holding this seat, although he hasn’t had issues since. Clinton narrowly carried the district, and then Biden easily won the district in 2020.
Political Tour of the District
This district shifted westward during the 2020 round of redistricting, and it takes in more of Nassau County than before. These areas are redder than what was taken away from the district, meaning it should be a tough slog here. Zimmerman can only afford to lose a little bit off of the Biden margins.
Here’s where this race will be won in the 3rd district.
- Central Nassau County: The communities in central Nassau County along the southern border of the district are key to Zimmerman winning. He needs a lot of turnout in this section of the district, as other areas aren’t as amenable to Democratic candidates.
- Glen Cove/Sand Point: The area around these two towns on the north shore of Long Island is fairly blue, and it is important that Zimmerman pump up the margins as high as they can go. These areas tend to be swingier than other portions of the district, and could backslide.
- Queens: Except for one neighborhood, the portion of the district in Queens is very important to Zimmerman. He will need to connect with Asian voters that reside here in order to ensure that he wins in November.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
- Great Neck and Beechhurst: This area of the district is rather red, and Zimmerman will need to hope turnout isn’t as robust as it is in other portions of the district. Beechhurst is that neighborhood in Queens and it is more of a swing region than deep red.
- Oyster Bay/Old Brookville: These areas are swingy as well, and Zimmerman needs to perform at the Biden margins in this area to ensure that he is elected this fall. Failure to keep the blue and pink precincts as they are could spell trouble for his campaign.
- Massapequa Area: This area is rock ribbed conservative turf, and it is unlikely that Zimmerman will win in these areas. What is important is damage limitation and making sure the margins don’t get too out of hand. Any voters he finds in these towns are a bonus.
Activism — Help How You Can!
Robert Zimmerman is doing fairly well money wise, and now that the primary is settled he can ramp up and get a lot more donations. He raised a ho-hum $320k for quarter 2, which isn’t enough for Long Island and the pricey New York media market. George Santos isn’t raising much either, opting to rake in $312k during the same time period. It is likely dark money will get involved here.
There is likely a disparity in cash on hand. At the end of June, Zimmerman had $757k to spend, most of which probably got spent on this primary election. Santos, on the other hand, had a much more robust $913k to spend as he could sit on his building cash pile. Zimmerman needs to replenish his cash stack after a bruising primary. Please send him a donation today!
DONATE TO ROBERT ZIMMERMAN HERE
Zimmerman will need volunteers to make sure that people in the district turnout for him like they did for Biden two years ago. That means a lot of people canvassing, phone/text banking, and many more tasks. In order to sign up, go to https://www.mobilize.us/zimmermanforcongress/. Long Island has FOUR competitive races this year, meaning volunteers are at a premium. Don’t neglect this race!
Zimmerman needs help building a social media following. He clearly created his social media account for this campaign, as it is at a paltry 1.2k followers on Twitter. He will never get his message out with so few people paying attention to him. Please follow and retweet him today! Below, he is celebrating his primary win for this seat.
He also has new accounts on Facebook at zimmermanforny and Instagram at zimmermanforny. Go ahead and help him build his profile on those sites as well!
I’m not going to lie, I am a little worried about this Long Island race. Zimmerman is an untested candidate trying to defend a seat that got redder in redistricting. It should be blue enough for him to win in November, but it will be a close race. That is why Majority Savers was first launched — to go to the close races and raise awareness of where our majority is at risk.
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Robert Zimmerman for New York-3
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