020818 Political Note #99 Robert Jackson NY SD 31
2018 Primary Won 56 – 38
2018 General Election Won 89 — 6
He walked before he ran.President of local School Board 6, Robert Jackson http://www.voterobertjackson.com/ walked to Albany. A founder of the Campaign for Fiscal Equality, his 150 mile walk to Albany was advocacy for education funds for New York City Schools. The Campaign succeeded in its lawsuit against the state of New York and achieved a substantial increase in funds for New York City Schools.
Robert Jackson ran for and was elected to City Council, but later lost campaigns for Borough President and twice for the State Senate. The 2016 State Senate loss was close. Three top candidates in the Democratic primary were within 1,000 votes of each other. Jackson is running again for Senate District 31 which covers the west side of Manhattan from Chelsea in the south, through the Upper West Side, to Inwood in the north.
Robert Jackson stands out because of his education advocacy, his persistence, his religion (He is a Moslem), and the support he is getting from the candidate who came in second in 2016. The incumbent, the candidate he lost the campaign to, is Marisol Alcantara. Formerly a labor organizer, she describes herself as the only Latina in the State Senate, as strongly pro-labor and a worker for low income communities.
Sounds appealing? Not to Jackson and not to a lot of Democrats. Alcantara joined the IDC. The Independent Democratic Conference, now a group of eight Democrats which caucuses with the Republicans. The IDC. plus another Democrat from Brooklyn, voted with the Republicans to organize the state Senate — to select a Senate President, to select Committee Chairs, to allow Republicans to control what bills the Senate will vote on and when. Alcantara and other IDC members do vote for progressive causes. But with Republican control of the Senate, they mostly get to vote on progressive causes when the vote doesn’t make a difference.
Robert Jackson’s campaign is different now because a grass roots Democratic campaign seeks to oust IDC members. Not Governor Cuomo. He is attempting to persuade the IDC members to rejoin the Democratic Party in organizing the Senate. They have made an agreement. The leaders of the grass roots movement don’t believe the agreement will hold and believe in electing Democrats who would never caucus with the Republicans.Like any good candidate, Robert Jackson outlines his issues:
- Education is where he begins: Support for the Mayor’s Pre-Kindergarten initiative, efforts to reduce the “achievement gap,” and assignment of effective teachers to high needs schools
- Election reform includes introducing early voting to New York, consolidating New York’s confusing multiple primaries, and providing greater public financing of elections
- Environment improvement includes both clean energy and infrastructure improvement
- Housing focuses on minimizing gentrification and ensuring reasonable rent
- Immigration includes supporting Dominicans in New York and the Dominican Republic. He supports undocumented youth, the DREAMERS.
With the possible exception of housing issues (real estate interests support the IDC), the incumbent’s positions are unlikely to be very different from Robert Jackson’s. If Democrats control the Senate, their votes will count. They will achieve the goals Robert Jackson outlines
This is early in the conversation among Democrats in New York. The primary is not until September 11. Begin supporting a Democratic majority in the New York State Senate, a majority you can count on remaining Democratic. Robert Jackson http://www.voterobertjackson.com/ is the first member of a slate of candidates competing against the eight IDC Democrats. I expect to write about more of the anti-IDC candidates later in the year.
