This incumbent knocked away the opposition fairly comfortably over the last decade. He was drawn into a district with a fellow incumbent, and his prowess caused the other incumbent to try for another district. Some may be raw about that (I am), but its not like his new seat is much safer than his old district. That’s why I am heading to New York’s 17th district to profile Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney!
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Sean Patrick Maloney for New York-17
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Candidate Background
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney has been close with the Clintons for a very long time now, and he is a Clinton alumnus from that administration. For a while, he was the most prominent openly gay person working for the US government in the 1990s when most were still in the closet.
- He was born in Canada to American parents because his father was a lumberjack. He was raised in a close knit Irish Catholic family, and these factors influenced him deeply, as well as securing his Juris Doctor law degree from the University of Virginia in 1992.
- In the Clinton campaign, he served as one of the youngest staffers of that campaign in both 1992 and 1996. He also held a senior advisor and a secretary position under Bill Clinton’s tenure. Clinton remarked that the two worked closely together during his stint there.
- Maloney has run for statewide office twice, and has lost on both occasions. He tried for the Attorney General position in both 2006 (loss to Cuomo) and 2018 (loss to Letitia James). He also served disgraced Gov. Elliot Spitzer as a secretary before running for Congress.
Signature Issues
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is a pragmatic progressive to a moderate in the Democratic caucus. This is good news in terms of holding a swing seat, because he can tout bipartisan credentials. He still votes for the Biden agenda nearly 100% of the time, and isn’t a thorn in the side of Speaker Pelosi.
In terms of his DW Nominate score, he has a score of -0.239, which puts him closer to the moderate camp than the progressive camp. He is more liberal than 54% of the entire House membership, while also being more moderate than 89% of the Democratic caucus of the House.
LGBTQ+ Rights: Maloney was openly gay in a time when most LGBTQ+ citizens were still in the closet. He would protect LGBTQ+ rights from the current attacks by the GQP on the most vulnerable. He would pass measures similar to the Equality Act in order to codify rights earned in the courts.
Health Care and Abortion: Maloney has come out strongly against the Rick Scott plan to sunset Medicare and Social Security after five years. He was a staunch supporter of the Inflation Reduction Act, which aims to lower drug costs for seniors. He is also 100% pro-choice and was aghast at Dobbs.
Infrastructure: New York city has infrastructure that is nearly a century old, and replacing or repairing these critical water, sewer, and transportation systems is at the top of Maloney’s spending priority list. His dedication to bringing home the bacon may save him his job this fall.
Elections History
Recent Elections —
2020 President: Joe Biden (D) 54.4%, TFG (R-inc) 44.3%
2020 House: Sean Patrick Maloney (D-inc) 55.8%, Chele Farley (R) 43.6%
2022 PVI: D+3
2022 Race Rating: Leans Democratic
This district straddles the boundary between Upstate New York and the New York City metro area, and it has characteristics of both places. It includes being a swing seat that both parties have won recently, when it was numbered first the 19th and then the 18th Congressional district. The lines have stayed similar as well over the years in spite of New York losing seats with each decade.
Until 2006, this district usually had Republican representation. Rep. Sue Kelly held the seat from 1994 until that point in time. She really didn’t face any serious challengers in her tenure, because she was seen as fiscally conservative and socially moderate. However, she couldn’t wash the Foley page scandal off of her when it broke in 2006, and Rep. John Hall pulled off the upset during the 2006 blue wave election.
Hall would last four years in Congress before being washed out by Rep. Nan Hayworth is the subsequent red wave in 2010. That was the last time this district went for a member of the GQP, as Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney first beat Hayworth in 2012 to head to the House. Maloney narrowly defeated Hayworth in a 2014 rematch, but he hasn’t been seriously challenged since. That will change in 2022, as he has a credible opponent and new constituents.
Political Tour of the District
This district largely is terrain once represented by Rep. Mondaire Jones, who was the incumbent to draw the short straw because of the court drawn map for 2022. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney muscled out Jones, who had to carpetbag to the 10th district only to lose handily.
Here’s where this race will be won in the 17th district.
- Westchester County: This area is reliably blue, and Maloney will clean up amongst the wealthy denizens of this county. There are a few red precincts in this area, but the majority of them are clearly blue. This is the Democratic anchor for the entire district.
- Eastern Rockland County: Rockland County is sharply polarized, and most of the eastern half of the county is extremely blue. Maloney will need to appeal to the minority voters that live in eastern Rockland County if he is to win re-election in the fall.
Here’s where we need to keep the margins down, or we lose.
- Putnam and Dutchess County: These areas are a light red in nature, and they tend to be the swingier areas of the district. Maloney will likely get a small boost in Putnam County, as that is his home base. He will have to get as close to 50-50 as possible to ensure a win.
- Western Rockland County: This half of Rockland County is where the Orthodox Jewish communities reside, and they tend to swing to whichever party caters to their specific needs the most. More recently, it has been the GQP that has been winning these voters.
Activism — Help How You Can!
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney certainly won’t be hurting for cash. The DCCC head raised $845k for the time period of Quarter 2, which puts him amongst our best fundraisers in the House. His GQP opposition, State Rep. Michael Lawler, raised only $354k during the same time period, though he didn’t get into the race until late.
Maloney also has a substantial amount of cash on hand. He has $2.56 MILLION in his coffers, which should be a decent start in the pricy New York media market. Lawler only has $334k as his campaign started very late as the lines weren’t finalized until very late into the process. I suspect dark money will go on the attack if any opening arises here, which is why Maloney needs your donation.
DONATE TO REP. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY HERE
If you live in the fringes of the New York urban area, this is definitely a district you can volunteer for. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is just like every other incumbent — he needs volunteers to canvass, text/phone bank, update databases, and generally help the campaign win. He doesn’t have a specific link to volunteer, but going to https://www.seanmaloney.com/get-involved will likely lead you to a volunteer option on his page.
In terms of social media reach, he has enough followers to reach out to his district on Twitter, but it isn’t an eye popping number like some incumbents have. He has around 14k followers on that social media platform, which is a number we can hopefully help grow with this article. Here, he is a bit gleeful about the GQP sticking a foot in its mouth with calling for a national abortion ban.
He also has a Facebook page at MaloneyforNY, but surprisingly no Instagram or other social media pages. Maybe that is an improvement the campaign can work on in the upcoming months.
While it was not nice of him to muscle out a more progressive incumbent for this district, the move probably keeps the seat in Democratic hands. Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney is a canny campaigner, and it is quite likely he will win yet again in November. However, redistricting is always when an incumbent is at their most vulnerable, and that is why I am choosing to profile this race.
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Sean Patrick Maloney for New York-17
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