NEW YORK NURSE
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september 2020
NYSNA 2020 Voter Guide
O
ur Voter Guide provides endorsements for State Assembly and State Senate races, and for President of the United States. This Guide lists candidates for elected office—US House of Representatives/Congress, NY State Senate, NY State Assembly— who have been endorsed by NYSNA. For the Presidential race, NYSNA conducted an advisory poll of members in which an overwhelming majority—70%— voted to endorse Joe Biden. Congratulations to the members who participated in the poll and made their voices heard. Our ability to address issues exacerbated by the COVID-19 crisis and to pass legislation like safe staffing and healthcare for all depends on each of us doing our part to elect candidates who have stood with nurses and our communities.
How to use this election guide For easy referral, candidates are listed by region and by Assembly or Senate District. There are candidates highlighted in each region who are involved in important races. Many have gone above and beyond to stand with us—on picket lines, at meetings with employers, and wherever we’ve needed their support. Use this Election Guide to familiarize yourself with the candidates in your district and be prepared to vote—either early voting beginning October 24, on Election Day November 3, or by absentee ballot. Over the next few weeks, there are a few steps you can take to prepare to vote.
1. Register to vote / Confirm your voter registration! The New York State Board of Elections web site provides links for registering, checking your voter registration, changing political party affiliation, district maps, and more: www.elections.ny.gov Share the link with family and friends who aren’t yet registered or want to confirm that their registration is current. You can register to vote online, by mail or in person 25 days before Election Day. If registering by mail, it must be postmarked 25 days before Election Day and received 20 days before Election Day.
2. Early voting starts October 24 You can avoid the crowds and vote in person each day between Saturday, October 24 and Sunday, November 1. Find your polling location here: https://voterlookup. elections.ny.gov/. NYC residents can look up their polling site at https://nyc. pollsitelocator.com/search.
3. Request an absentee ballot If you will be out of town on November 3 or wish to limit your exposure to COVID-19, you can request an absentee ballot. You can request your absentee ballot online by visiting the State Board of Elections website at https:// www.elections.ny.gov/votingabsentee.html. NYC residents can also request an absentee ballot online: https://nycabsentee.com/ The deadline to send in your absentee ballot application by email, mail or fax is October 27. You will receive your absentee ballot by mail, which must be sent to the Board of elections by November 3.
Volunteer to GOTV! Please consider volunteering your time over the next several
weeks to ensure NYSNA-endorsed candidates are elected. With several opportunities to elect and re-elect NYSNA champions, we have an excellent opportunity to change the landscape of New York politics to move a bold agenda to protect the public’s health including staffing, healthcare for all, and fair taxation. NYSNA is also partnering with our labor allies to get out the vote for President and Vice President in battleground states. Take the pledge to vote and sign up to volunteer at https:// nysna.salsalabs.org/pledgetovote
Know your right to vote! In New York State, a registered voter may, without loss of pay for up to three hours, take off so much working time as will enable him or her to vote at any election. The employee shall be allowed time off for voting only at the beginning or end of his or her working shift, as the employer may designate, unless otherwise mutually agreed. If the employee requires working time off to vote the employee shall notify his or her employer not less than two working days before the day of the election that he or she requires time off to vote in accordance with the provisions of this section. Not less than ten working days before every election, every employer shall post conspicuously in the place of work where it can be seen as employees come or go to their place of work, a notice setting forth the provisions of this section. Such notice shall be kept posted until the close of the polls on election day. If you wish to volunteer for a political campaign or as a poll worker, you can request time off from your employer through the usual process.
November 3 is fast approaching!
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New York Nurse september 2020
Joe Biden/Kamala Harris for President/Vice President
B
acked by a large majority—70%—in our recent membership advisory poll concluded on September 3, Democrat Joe Biden has received NYSNA’s endorsement for President of the United States. Born to a working class family, Joe Biden has dedicated his life to public service, becoming one of the youngest people ever elected to the U.S. Senate at age 29. He served for eight years as President Obama’s Vice President, advocating for the middle class, a lasting economic recovery after the 2008 Great Recession, and the expansion of healthcare access through the Affordable Care Act. Biden has framed his candidacy as a battle for the soul of the nation; and his values and priorities match many of NYSNA nurses’, including ensuring healthcare for all, respecting and protecting frontline workers, strengthening union power, tackling systemic racism, climate justice, and ending gun violence. We encourage members to vote for Joe Biden on the Working Families Party ballot line.
Healthcare
Kamala Harris has served as a California Senator since 2017. She previously served as California’s attorney general, focusing on protecting homeowners hit by the foreclosure crisis, defending California’s landmark climate change law, protecting the Affordable Care Act, helping win marriage equality for all Californians, and prosecuting transnational gangs that trafficked in guns, drugs, and human beings. She is accustomed to blazing trails in many of her positions. If elected Vice President, Harris would be the first African-American, South Asian-American, and woman to hold that office.
Biden believes healthcare is a right for all, not a privilege for just a few. His healthcare plan focuses on protecting the Affordable Care Act and expanding on it to give Americans more choice, reduce health care costs, and make our health care system less complex to navigate. He would create a public option, expand access to mental healthcare, improve affordability through tax credits, and take on the power of the pharmaceutical industry by allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices and allowing patients to buy prescription drugs from other countries. He would defend healthcare protections for all, regardless of gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. He would also create a national strategy to reduce our nation’s unacceptably high maternal mortality rate,
which disproportionately impacts women of color.
COVID-19 and Essential Workers Biden will focus on respecting essential workers through the immediate COVID-19 crisis and for the long-term, through raising wages, guaranteeing quality, affordable health care, providing free tuition for public higher education, and encouraging unionization and collective bargaining. More immediately, he is calling on the Trump administration to give priority access to PPE and COVID testing to frontline workers, use the Defense Production Act to produce an adequate supply of PPE, establish and enforce health and safety standards for workplaces, and enact premium pay for frontline workers putting themselves at risk. Biden also promises to increase economic recovery aid to the unemployed and small businesses.
Strengthening Union Power Biden believes that strong unions built the middle class, and he intends to roll back the right-wing war on workers that has reduced the bargaining power of workers and caused income inequality to soar to historic heights. His plan is to aggressively enforce labor law and pursue employers who engage in wage theft, including making employees work through breaks, or work overtime without overtime pay. He supports the Protecting the Right to Organize Act (PRO Act), which penalizes companies and their executives for union-busting and bargaining in bad faith. He will extend the right to organize to public employees in every state, repeal the Taft-Hartley provisions that allow states to impose “right to work” laws, and allow workers to organize via “card check.”
Tackling Systemic Racism Biden believes that strengthening America’s commitment to justice requires rooting out systemic racism from our laws, our policies, our
institutions, and our hearts. His plan is to make investments that end racial disparities in healthcare, close the racial wealth gap through fair lending, home ownership and small business initiatives, expand access to high-quality education, promote diversity, equity and inclusion in schools and workplaces, and make the right to vote and the right to equal protection real for African Americans. Biden understands that our criminal justice system cannot be just unless we root out the racial, gender, and income-based disparities in the system.
Climate Justice Biden believes that climate change is real, is man-made, and poses an existential threat—not just to our environment, but to our health, our communities, our national security, and our economic well-being. His clean energy plan resembles the Green New Deal, with a focus on moving to a 100% clean energy economy and with net-zero emissions no later than 2050, a just transition for workers in pollution-based industries, and a focus on stopping polluters who disproportionately harm communities of color and low-income communities.
Ending gun violence Biden views gun violence as a public health epidemic. While in the Senate in the 90s, he championed the bills that established the background check system and the ten-year ban on assault rifles. As President, we would renew and strengthen these initiatives to keep weapons of war off our streets and out of the hands of criminals, as well as people unable to manage their affairs for mental reasons, which President Trump reversed. He will also take on the deadly connection between domestic violence and gun violence and provide more support and trauma-centered care to survivors of violence and their communities. [References: www.joebiden.com]
NEW YORK NURSE september 2020
Highlighted Races United stateS Congress Long Island
Central NY CD-22 Anthony Brindisi Anthony Brindsi is running for re-election to New York’s 22nd Congressional District. He has advocated against the rising costs of prescription drug prices and voted to protect the Affordable Care Act in Congress. While in
CD-21 Tedra Cobb
CD-2 Jackie Gordon Jackie Gordon is running for Congress in Long Island’s District 2. Gordon is a combat veteran and a retired high school guidance counselor. She has made affordable and accessible healthcare a top issue in her campaign. “Our nurses provide critical, lifesaving care to our community every day,” she says. “I’m proud to stand with them in advocating for every American’s right to quality, affordable healthcare.”
Staten Island CD-11 Max Rose Max Rose is a US Army veteran who has served Congressional District 11, representing Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, since 2018. He has advocated for improving veterans’ healthcare and has proposed measures to lower healthcare costs and move towards universal coverage. He’s also focused on addressing the opioid epidemic, bringing a medical clinic and drug recovery center to Staten Island. Most recently, he fought to expand COVID-19 testing and funding for community health centers during the pandemic. Max Rose’s record shows he sees the local issues nurses face and is committed to solving them.
Tedra Cobb is running to represent New York’s 21st Congressional District. Cobb has experience on the frontlines, having worked as a corrections counselor, a volunteer firefighter, and in HIV/AIDS outreach. She started a community health agency in 1999, expanding critical healthcare infrastructure in Northern New York. She previously served on the St. Lawrence County Legislature, where she led a successful initiative to lower prescription drug costs. She has committed to expanding access to healthcare in Congress, with a special focus on the needs of our rural hospitals and the nurses that serve them. She stood alongside Nathan Littauer nurses in their last contract campaign.
Max Rose at NYSNA’s 2018 Convention
the New York State Assembly, he has voted for safe staffing legislation and has stood alongside St. Elizabeth nurses during their last contract fight. He continues to stand alongside them in their current contract fight and holds district meetings with nurses to discuss staffing issues during the COVID pandemic.
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New York Nurse september 2020
New York State Senate Long Island
“It is a great honor to have the endorsement and support of the New York State Nurses Association and its true frontline professionals, who protected and cared for our residents during the Covid19 pandemic. Our efforts in safeguarding our communities would not be possible without the dedication and capabilities of nurses.” Senator Pete Harckham
NYSNA nurse leaders got out the vote for State Senator Gounardes back in 2018.
SD-3 Monica Martinez Monica Martinez is running for reelection to New York’s 3rd Senate District. She is a member of the Alcoholism & Substance Abuse, Budget & Revenues, and Labor Committees, just to name a few. Senator Martinez authored legislation protecting and expanding a woman’s right to quality healthcare, as well as co-sponsored one of the most progressive pieces of climate change legislation in the country. When she was elected in 2018, NYSNA did not endorse her, but she has since been an advocate for NYSNA nurses, co-sponsoring both the NY Health Act and the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act. Her general election is a priority for Democrats in LI, since her seat is at risk, and her challenger Alex Weik is very conservative. Labor is rallying behind her, including CWA, IBEW, Steamfitters, RWDSU, Laborers, Teamsters, and NYSUT.
Committee, he has authored and co-sponsored legislation to protect individual’s health data, especially communities of color, from exploitation. Senator Thomas has advocated for nurses’ priorities, such as legislation for safe staffing ratios and the NY Health Act. In August, he rallied alongside nurses at LIJ Valley Stream for a new contract and better working conditions.
NYC SD-22 Andrew Gounardes Andrew Gounardes is running for
re-election in New York’s 22nd State Senate District. Throughout his time in the Senate, he has taken action to protect and empower nurses, patients, and workers. He championed the recently won COVID-19 death benefit bill for public sector workers, including Health + Hospital/ Mayorals nurses. He also introduced legislation requiring all public sector employers to implement plans to protect public workers and the public health during COVID, which was recently signed into law by the Governor.
SD-6 Kevin Thomas Kevin Thomas was elected in 2018 to represent the 6th District in Nassau County, becoming the first Indian-American in New York history to serve in the State Senate. As Chair of the Consumer Protection
State Senator Kevin Thomas rallies with nurses outside LIJ Valley Stream in August.
NEW YORK NURSE september 2020
New York State Senate Hudson Valley
SD-39 James Skoufis James Skoufis is running for reelection in New York’s 29th Senate District, representing much of Orange County. Elected in 2019, he has fought alongside nurses by supporting important legislation, such as the Safe Staffing for Quality Care Act. During the pandemic, Senator Skoufis helped distribute hundreds of masks and hand sanitizers in his district and hosted a COVID-19 testing site for first responders. When the NYSDOH released their flawed report on nurse staffing enhancements that inflated cost estimates, Senator Skoufis was among the lawmakers who stepped up to condemn the report.
SD-40 Peter Harckham Pete Harckham is running for reelection in New York’s 40th State Senate District. Pete has been a strong advocate for safe staffing ratios, a fair contract and worker protections, and a fair state budget where the ultra-wealthy pay their fair share. Throughout the pandemic, he has joined alongside COVID nurse heroes at NYPHudson Valley Hospital who have been fighting for a fair contract for nearly two years.
SD-42 Jen Metzger Jen Metzger is running for reelection in New York’s State Senate District 42. She understands the need for patients in her district to have access to essential healthcare services, like inpatient mental
healthcare and detox services at Health Alliance Hudson Valley in Kingston. Jen is the strong advocate we need in Albany to fight for healthcare, education, the environment, and the economy.
ECMC nurses meet with Senator Sean Ryan in Albany during a 2018 Lobby Day
Western NY SD-60 Sean Ryan Sean Ryan is running for New York’s 60th Senate District. He was first elected to New York State Assembly in 2011, where he has advocated for nurses’ priorities such as safe staffing legislation. He has highlighted the need for safe staffing ratios in nursing homes and has urged state lawmakers to pass the bill during COVID-19.
Senator Peter Harckham spoke out in solidarity with NYP-Hudson Valley Hospital nurses fighting for a first contract this summer.
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New York Nurse september 2020
NY State Assembly NYC
Capital Region AD-110 Phil Steck Phil Steck is running for reelection to New York’s 110th Assembly District, which he has represented since 2013. Phil has been a strong advocate for nurses and the Capital Region’s working
families. He has co-sponsored safe staffing legislation and the New York Health Act. From standing alongside Bellevue Women’s Center nurses in 2013 to rallying with Albany Medical Center nurses in 2020, he has always been in solidarity with nurses in their fight for a fair contract.
AD-76 Rebecca Seawright Rebecca Seawright is lifelong Democrat running for re-election to New York’s 76th Assembly District on the “Rise and Unite” ballot line. At the height of the pandemic, Rebecca helped deliver thousands of PPE to hospitals and nursing homes in her district. Rebecca has always supported nurse’s priorities such as staff staffing ratios in our healthcare facilities.
Assembly Member Phil Steck spoke out on Labor Day 2020, ready to do “whatever it takes” to support Albany Med nurses.
NEW YORK NURSE september 2020
CENTRAL NY
District Candidate (affiliation)
NYS SENATE SD 50 John Mannion
Long Island
SD 53 Rachel May
NY02 Jackie Gordon NY03 Tom Suozzi
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 115 Billy Jones
(D-WFP)
(D)
Greg Meeks
(D-WFP)
NY07 Nydia Velazquez NY08 Hakeem Jeffries NY10 Jerry Nadler
NYS SENATE SD 3 Monica Martinez
(D-WFP)
NY09 Yvette Clarke
(D)
LONG ISLAND
(D)
NY06 Grace Meng
NY11 Max Rose
(D-WFP)
AD 119 Marianne Buttenschon
New York City NY05
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP) (D-WFP)
(D)
(D-WFP)
(D)
NY12 Carolyn Maloney NY13 Adriano Espaillat
(D)
NY14 Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
SD 4
Christine Pellegrino
SD 5
James Gaughran
SD 6
Kevin Thomas
SD 7
Anna Kaplan
SD 8
John Brooks
(D-WFP)
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 1 Fred Thiele
(D-WFP)
(D)
(D)
(D) (D)
SD 9 Todd Kaminsky
(D-WFP)
(D)
(D)
(D-WFP)
Westchester/ Hudson Valley
AD 2 Laura Jens-Smith
(D)
NY16 Jamaal Bowman
(D-WFP)
AD 4 Steve Englebright
(D-WFP)
NY17 Mondaire Jones
(D-WFP)
AD 6 Phil Ramos
NY18 Sean Patrick Maloney NY19 Antonio Delgado
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
Capital/ North Country Region NY20 Paul Tonko
(D-WFP)
NY21 Tedra Cobb
(D-WFP)
NY State
AD 15 Mike Montesano
(R)
(D)
AD 22 Michaelle Solages
(D-WFP)
NYS SENATE SD 35 Andrea Stewart-Cousins
SD 45 Kimberly Davis
(D-WFP)
AD 113 Carrie Woerner
(D)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
AD 93 Chris Burdick
(D-WFP)
(WFP)
(D-WFP)
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 92 Thomas Abinanti
(D)
AD 111 Angelo Santabarbara
SD 41 Karen Smythe SD 42 Jen Metzger
(D)
AD 97 Ellen Jaffee
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
AD 100 Aileen Gunther AD 103 Kevin Cahill
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
AD 104 Jonathan Jacobson AD 106 Didi Barrett
(D)
(D-WFP)
SD 40 Peter Harckham
(D-WFP)
SD 46 Michelle Hinchey
(D-WFP)
SD 38 Elijah Reichlin-Melnik
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
SD 39 James Skoufis
AD 112 Joe Seeman
(R)
(D)
SD 37 Shelley Mayer
CAPITAL REGION
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 109 Patricia Fahy
(D)
AD 14 David McDonough
SD 36 Jamaal Bailey
NYS SENATE SD 44 Neil Breslin
(D)
WESTCHESTER/ HUDSON VALLEY (D-WFP)
NY27 Nate McMurray
AD 110 Phil Steck
AD 13 Charles Lavine
AD 21 Judy Griffin
(D-WFP)
Western New York NY26 Brian Higgins
AD 11 Kimberly Jean-Pierre
AD 18 Taylor Darling
(D-WFP)
NY22 Anthony Brindisi
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
NYSNA Voter Guide
US Congress
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New York Nurse september 2020
NYSNA Voter Guide
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WESTERN NY
AD 57 Phara Souffrant Forrest
NYS SENATE SD 55 Samra Brouk
AD 59 Jaime Williams
(D-WFP)
AD 60 Charles Barron
(D)
(D-WFP)
SD 56 Jeremy Cooney SD 60 Sean Ryan
AD 61 Charles Fall
(D-WFP)
SD 61 Jacqui Berger
(D-WFP)
SD 63 Tim Kennedy
(D-WFP)
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 141 Crystal Peoples-Stokes
NYS SENATE SD 23 Diane Savino (D)
(D)
AD 64 Brandon Patterson
(D-WFP)
AD 146 Karen McMahon
(D)
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 63 Michael Cusick
(D-WFP)
AD 143 Monica Wallace
(D)
STATEN ISLAND
(D-WFP)
AD 142 Patrick Burke
NYC QUEENS
SD 28 Liz Krueger
NYS SENATE SD 10 James Sanders Jr.
SD 31 Robert Jackson
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 65 Yuh-Line Niou
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
SD 12 Mike Gianaris
(D-WFP)
AD 69 Daniel O’Donnell
SD 13 Jessica Ramos
(D-WFP)
AD 70 Inez Dickens AD 71 Al Taylor
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 24 David Weprin
AD 29 Alicia Hyndman AD 30 Brian Barnwell
AD 34 Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas
(D-WFP)
AD 76 Rebecca Seawright
(D-WFP)
(D)
AD 36 Zohran Kwame Momdani AD 40 Ronald Kim
(D-WFP)
AD 75 Richard Gottfried (D-WFP)
(D)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
AD 74 Harvey Epstein
(D)
AD 31 Khaleel Anderson
AD 39 Catalina Cruz
(D)
(D-WFP)
AD 73 Dan Quart
(D)
(D)
AD 35 Jeffrion Aubry
(D)
AD 72 Carmen de la Rosa
(D)
AD 27 Daniel Rosenthal
(D)
MANHATTAN
(D-WFP)
NYS SENATE SD 27 Brad Hoylman
SD 11 John Liu
(WFP)
BRONX NYS SENATE SD 32 Luis Sepulveda
(D-WFP)
SD 33 Gustavo Rivera
(D-WFP)
SD 34 Alessandra Biaggi
(D-WFP)
BROOKLYN
SD 35 Andrea Stewart-Cousins
NYS SENATE SD 20 Zellnor Myrie
SD 36 Jamaal Bailey
(D-WFP)
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 77 Latoya Joyner
(D)
SD 21 Kevin Parker
(D-WFP)
(D)
SD 22 Andrew Gounardes SD 25 Jabari Brisport
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
AD 43 Diana Richardson
(D-WFP)
(D-WFP)
AD 46 Mathylde Frontus AD 52 Jo Anne Simon AD 55 Latrice Walker
(D-WFP)
(D)
(D)
AD 80 Nathalia Fernandez AD 83 Carl Heastie
(D-WFP)
(D)
(D)
AD 84 Amanda Septimo
NYS ASSEMBLY AD 41 Helene Weinstein AD 44 Robert Carroll
(D)
AD 86 Victor Pichardo AD 87 Karines Reyes
(D-WFP)
(D)
(D-WFP)
For a full list of NYSNA endorsements, including for elections in New Jersey, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania, please visit www.nysna.org/2020-endorsements