Bay Ridge

Guess Who’s Back? Grimm eyeing run for his old Congress seat

August 3, 2017 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Former Congressmember Michael Grimm is looking to make a political comeback, according to several sources. Eagle file photo by Paula Katinas
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In what could be the political equivalent of coming back from the dead, former U.S. Rep. Michael Grimm is strongly considering running in 2018 for the House seat he resigned from two years ago, multiple sources told the Brooklyn Eagle.

Grimm, a Republican, resigned from Congress in disgrace in January 2015 after he was convicted of tax fraud. He spent seven months in a federal prison.

Once considered a rising star in the Republican Party, Grimm represented New York’s 11th Congressional District from 2010-2015. The district covers the entire borough of Staten Island and takes in a large swath of Southwest Brooklyn, including Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Gravesend.

NY1 reported on Grimm’s possible comeback on Aug. 3.  The former lawmaker told NY 1 that he has not made any decisions yet about running for public office again.

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In order to win back his old seat, Grimm would first have to challenge current U.S. Rep. Dan Donovan in a GOP primary.

But Grimm would find a great deal of support if he ran, according to one source who asked that his name not be used. “People still like Mike. Yes, he went to jail. But you’d be surprised at how many people still think highly of him and the job he did in Congress,” the source told the Eagle.

Grimm is a former FBI agent and served in the U.S. Marines in the early 1990s.

Donovan, the former Staten Island district attorney, won the seat in a special election in May 2015, defeating Democratic Bay Ridge Councilmember Vincent Gentile. Donovan easily won re-election in November 2016.

Five Democrats have announced intentions to run against Donovan in 2018.

 


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