HomeIndiaIndia and the worldNew York Rep. Carolyn Maloney to Seek Reelection, Setting Up Suraj Patel Rematch

New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney to Seek Reelection, Setting Up Suraj Patel Rematch

New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney to Seek Reelection, Setting Up Suraj Patel Rematch

“I fully expect to be a candidate in this race later this year,” said Indian American Suraj Patel. (Suraj Patel for Congress photo)

India-West Staff Reporter

U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., March 31 announced she will run for re-election, setting up a rematch of the nail-biting 2020 election with Indian American Suraj Patel.

Patch reports that Maloney opted for re-election, ending speculation that she would retire after a few tough primary challenges and nearly three decades representing Manhattan’s East Side.

The 75-year-old Maloney would reach the 30-year mark in Congress if she is re-elected in 2022 and serves another two-year term.

But her competition is already shaping up: Suraj Patel, an Indian American attorney who challenged Maloney in the 2018 and 2020 Democratic primaries, told Patch March 31 that “I fully expect to be a candidate in this race later this year.”

“Everywhere I go right now the mood is for new energy and optimism for a new New York after the pandemic,” he said in the report.

Patel, 37, lost to Maloney by only about 3,200 votes in last year’s primary after a drawn-out absentee ballot-counting process. That was a narrower margin than his 2018 challenge, which Maloney brushed back by nearly 20 percentage points.

Patel, an East Village resident, knocked Maloney during the campaigns for previously supporting “tough-on-crime” laws, and for past comments in which she questioned the safety of vaccines, the report notes.

“Sixty percent of the votes that were actually counted in this race last time voted for change,” Patel told Patch, referring to Maloney’s earning about 43 percent of the 2020 primary vote. Two other Democratic challengers earned about 17 percent combined.

Meanwhile, another Indian American, Reshma Saujani, a nonprofit founder who mounted a well-funded challenge to Maloney in 2010, stepped down from her job in February, prompting speculation that she would run again, according to the report.

In a news release, Maloney’s campaign touted her “unmatched record for delivering federal money to her district,” including $5.6 billion for the city in this month’s federal stimulus.

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