Gentile Accepts Democratic Nod For Grimm’s Seat

Councilman Vincent Gentile was selected as the Democratic candidate for the 11th Congressional District last night and will face off with prosecutor Daniel Donovan for the seat vacated by ex-Congressman Michael Grimm.

Gentile released a statement accepting the nod today:

I am honored to accept the Democratic nomination for New York’s 11th congressional district. Today, with the support of the Staten Island Democratic Party and the Brooklyn Democratic Party, we officially kick off a campaign to ensure that the thousands of hardworking New Yorkers finally get the representation they deserve in Congress. Since 1996, when I was first elected to represent Staten Island and Brooklyn in the New York State Senate, I have fought tirelessly for the middle class families that are the the backbone of our city. As an independent voice who has always put people before politics, I promise to lead the charge against broken Washington, D.C. politics that only benefit the super-rich, and have consistently failed to treat the residents of Brooklyn and Staten Island with the dignity and respect they deserve. The support I’ve received from across the district has been overwhelming, and as one team and one community, tonight Brooklyn and Staten Island have taken the first step together on the road to victory and a brighter future.

It’s likely to be an uphill battle for the councilman. Many pundits have expressed skepticism over whether a Brooklyn Democrat could actually win the Staten Island-dominated district against the popular Donovan. With the election date set for May 5, less than three months away, Staten Island Democrats tapped Gentile only after Staten Island Councilman Michael Cusick and former Congressman Michael McMahon declined to run.

Earlier this week, when Mayor Bill de Blasio threw his support behind the Brooklyn councilman, the GOP resuscitated old jokes about the mayor’s pizza eating habits. Staten Island Republicans mockingly offered to sponsor a “fork, knife, and pizza campaign” for de Blasio and Gentile, a reference to 2013’s “Forkgate,” – during which the mayor used a fork and knife to eat a slice, rather than the “New York” way of folding it in half and eating it with his hands – and a jab at the mayor’s lack of political sway among Staten Island voters.

Gentile addressed those concerns in his acceptance speech last night, highlighting the scandals that have overshadowed the last few congressional elections for the district.

Will Bredderman at the New York Observer reports:

Emphasizing his campaign slogan “A Fresh Start,” Mr. Gentile mocked the Staten Island Republican establishment, which has controlled the seat for 31 of the last 33 years. The pol alluded to former Congresswoman Susan Molinari’s abrupt 1997 resignation to take a job as a television journalist, former Congressman Vito Fossella‘s decision not to run for re-election in 2008 after a drunk driving arrest revealed he had a secret family in the D.C. suburbs and Mr. Grimm stepping down last month after he pleaded guilty to a federal tax evasion charge.

“The last three Republican members of Congress this leadership gave us all disappeared into the wind. All gone, right? All gone. One left us flat, and the other two resigned in disgrace—one of them now a convict and awaiting sentence,” he said, according to the Observer. “Now this same cohort of leaders with this embarrassing and abysmal record want to tell the good people of the 11th Congressional District who they have next in the queue to carry the title of Congress member. And to them and to you, I say, ‘Haven’t they embarrassed us enough?’”