Dem
51
GOP
49
House district NY-17 contains all of Westchester County north of White Plains, plus all of Putnam and Rockland Counties. It had been Democratic for years until Jan. 2023. In 2022, former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D), who had represented NY-18, just to the north, decided to move south and run in NY-17 because redistricting made NY-17 an easier win than NY-18. This move was a real bummer for then-Rep. Mondaire Jones (D) who looked like he was going to face a nasty primary with Maloney. To make it worse, Maloney was chairman of the DCCC, so he had access to plenty of money to spend on his own race. Jones saw the handwriting on the wall, so he moved to NY-10, which covers parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Unfortunately for him, also in that race was Dan Goldman (D), an up-and-coming wealthy lawyer who was the lead counsel in Donald Trump's first impeachment and a hero to many Democrats. Goldman narrowly won the primary and then went on to win the general election with 84% of the vote. Meanwhile, up in NY-17, all of the DCCC's cash couldn't save Maloney. He lost to now-Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) in a district that Joe Biden won by 10 points.
Naturally, Jones is not happy about all this maneuvering. Now he has moved to Sleepy Hollow, of headless horseman fame, and is expected to run for Congress in 2024 in NY-17, his old district. So far, so good.
Now here's the rub. NY-17 is a slightly Democratic district (D+3), so other Democrats have the same idea. In particular, a person named Liz Whitmer Gereghty has already filed to run there. You may not know much about the Gereghtys, but if you guessed that Liz is the sister of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI), you'd be right (advice to Liz: drop the Gereghty; some people won't vote for someone whose name they can't spell or pronounce). Sis is a rising star in the Democratic Party and a potential 2028 presidential candidate. So if Jones, who is Black, jumps in there will be nasty primary between a Black star and a white-star-adjacent candidate in a winnable district that Biden won easily. Maloney might also try again. It will get ugly.
Gereghty has lived in lower Westchester for 20 years and serves on a local school board. She has deep roots in the district whereas Jones appears to be jumping around looking for an easy win somewhere. Even fellow progressives are worried about Jones, since winning the district is crucial to the Democrats' hopes of recapturing the House in 2024. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), an ideological ally of Jones, has said she doesn't want to get involved this early. That is different from urging Jones to jump in. She obviously also knows that Gereghty, who is more moderate than Jones, is probably a better fit to a swing district like this one. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus' political arm, also hasn't encouraged Jones to go for it.
A contest between Gereghty and Jones would force Democrats to choose between the center and getting more progressives to vote. Jones' advantage is that he has already served in Congress and has the support of many progressives and Black voters. Gereghty would get support (including access to donors) from the Michigan delegation (especially Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-MI, with whom she is close) and from womens' groups that want to see more women in Congress. Due to the proximity to a huge media market and the very real possibility of flipping a seat from red to blue, this race is going to get a massive amount of attention and money. (V)