Working Families Party endorses Harris for Assembly

Democrats to decide this week on candidate

September 14, 2015 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Coney Island civic activist Pamela Harris secured endorsements from a litany of elected officials on Sunday.

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With the Democratic County Committee poised to meet this week to select a candidate to run for the state Assembly seat vacated by Alec Brook-Krasny, would-be candidates are busy working behind the scenes to try and secure the support of committee members.

Pamela Harris, a Coney Island civic activist; Kate Cucco, Brook-Krasny’s chief of staff; former Councilmember Michael Nelson; and Bay Ridge lawyer Cody McCone are all campaigning to win the Democratic Party’s nomination to run for the seat in the 46th Assembly District (AD).

Brook-Krasny resigned from the Assembly in July to take a lucrative job with a medical lab. A special election to fill his seat will take place on Nov. 3, the same day as the regularly scheduled election.

The 46th AD is divided evenly between Bay Ridge and Coney Island and also includes parts of Brighton Beach.

Lucretia Regina-Potter, the Republican district leader in the 46th AD, is the likely GOP candidate. She has already secured the endorsement of the Brooklyn Conservative Party.

On Sunday, the Working Families Party (WFP) endorsed Harris, who is a retired New York City correction officer and the founder of Coney Island Generation Gap, a nonprofit group that provides programs for young people.

Britney Whaley, the New York City political director of the Working Families Party, issued a statement on the endorsement.

“WFP is proud to endorse Pamela Harris for state Assembly. Pam earned our endorsement because of her dedication and commitment to service in her community, including her leadership as executive director of a community service nonprofit and her work to rebuild after Hurricane Sandy. Pam is a working families Democrat. Voters in the 46th District should look forward to having Pam as their new Assemblywoman, and we look forward to helping elect her in November and working with her to advance a working families agenda in Albany,” Whaley said.

Also on Sunday, several elected officials, including U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, state Sen. Diane Savino, Assemblymember William Colton and City Councilmembers Mark Treyger and David Greenfield endorsed Harris.

Harris is seeking to convince voters in the Bay Ridge end of the district that she has ties to that community and can expand her reach beyond Coney Island, where she lives.

An email sent out by her campaign to tout the endorsements noted that Harris’s father lived on Fourth Avenue and 80th Street in Bay Ridge before moving to Coney Island.

But while Harris was making a big public splash, Cucco, Nelson and McCone were busy trying to secure support for their candidacies, according to sources

KingsCountyPolitics.com reported on Sept. 10 that Cucco and her boyfriend, Jonathan Yedin, a respected political operative, were talking to county committee members. The website also reported that McCone feted several county committee members at Gargiulo’s Restaurant in Coney Island last week.