Last week, as Julio covered, Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) was forced to walk back her response during last Tuesday's primary debate against Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and Suraj Patel. The candidates running to represent New York's newly drawn 12th Congressional District had been asked if they would support President Joe Biden for 2024, with Maloney claiming "I don't believe he's running for re-election." Though she soon after threw her support behind Biden, it's not Maloney who is leading in the polls, but Nadler.
Last Friday, a PIX11/Emerson College Polling/The Hill poll was released showing that 40 percent of very likely Democratic voters preferred Nadler, while Maloney got 31 percent. Patel only took in 11 percent support, while about 17 percent remain undecided.
That poll was conducted August 1-2, with 1,000 respondents and a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percent.
Another poll shows the race to be a bit tighter. This one, from the Indian American Impact Fund, which has endorsed Patel, was conducted by Slingshot Strategies. Nadler is still up, with 29 percent, while Maloney has 27 percent. Patel had 20 percent support, and 19 percent were undecided.
That poll was conducted August 3-5, with 600 likely Democratic voters and a margin of error at 3.9 percent.
"All individual polls should be taken with a grain of salt, especially ones done for a client like this," mentioned reporting from City & State New York, which also referenced the Emerson poll above.
Rep. Nadler, who in his response to that question claimed it's "too early to say," had his own bizarre moments last Tuesday. For instance, when asked what his biggest accomplishment was, he claimed it was impeaching Bush twice, when the congressman meant to say Trump. Neither Presidents George H.W. Bush nor George W. Bush were ever impeached.
Nadler: "I impeached Bush twice." pic.twitter.com/uLCY5T7hji
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) August 4, 2022
There will be a Democratic primary on August 23 to select the nominee, who will almost surely go on to win the general election.
The primary race is certainly a fiery one, as Nadler, 75, and Maloney, 76, have both been in Congress since 1993. Each of them head committees, with Nadler serving as the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and Maloney serving as the chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.
On Monday, the New York Daily News ran a piece highlighting how "Democratic Reps. Nadler, Maloney locked in ‘fight to the political death’ for NY-12 congressional district slot."
The redrawing of New York's maps, which is losing a seat as a result of the 2020 census and required court action to finalize due to lawsuits, has led to drama to many more districts. This has particularly hit Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), who has the thankless job of chairing the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, as reports from The New York Times and POLITICO have highlighted.
Rep. Maloney announced almost immediately that he intended to run in the newly drawn 17th Congressional District, where he currently lives, and which is perceived to be a safer district for him to run in. That race is regarded as "Lean Democratic" or "Likely Democratic."