Jeff Klein pushes to protect position as State Senator
June 29, 2018
Incumbent Democratic State Senator Jeff Klein is looking to hold his ground Sept. 13 against Pelham resident Alessandra Biaggi in the Democratic primary for the seat.
Biaggi is a Pelham native petitioning to have her name on the ballot in September. Both the Biaggi and Klein campaigns have been in full force petitioning and working to be recognized as desirable candidates for the position. Klein has been representing New York since 2004 and hopes to continue to represent the 34th district.
Each candidate, both aligned with the Democratic party, must achieve 1,000 signatures to be eligible for the nomination in September. Though Klein has faced a great number of opponents as state senator, some believe Biaggi is a greater threat than past candidates.
He said, “I take every election seriously, no matter who the opponent is.”
Since Klein’s opposition is a native of Pelham, one may question how his influence in this small village will change. Klein has been a constant force in Pelham, as seen through several projects both within the school district and community-wide. He hopes to continue to be able to serve the Pelham community and receive far-reaching support.
“I have always received great support from the residents of Pelham,” said Klein. “In turn, I have always supported Pelham as their elected official. From fighting for property tax relief to investing in Pelham’s parks and cultural institutions such as Wolf’s Lane Park, the Hutch Field, the Pelham Picture House, the Town Hall and the Pelham Children’s Center, to delivering resources to the school district so they can purchase Chromebooks, creating a new diversity program and building the first-ever outdoor nature classroom at Siwanoy (Elementary School). As their State Senator I will keep delivering for them, as I have done in years past.”
Recently, national politics have had a greater influence on local elections than in other years. Klein has taken note of this.
“(The 2016 election) made a lot of people realize that their vote counts, ” said Klein. “I think we will see the impact on Election Day in terms of high voter turnout for Democratic candidates.”
In the coming months, both Senator Klein and Alessandra Biaggi will be diligently working to ensure that their names will be on the September ballot for state Senator.
Jennie Driesen • Jul 2, 2018 at 10:11 am
Congratulations on the establishment of The Pelham Examiner! We need you in town.
No article on Jeff Klein is complete without discussion of his establishment of the IDC. Because Jeff and seven other senators caucused for years with the GOP, they helped to prevent floor votes on important pieces of legislation, including codifying Roe v. Wade in NYS law. The Reproductive Health Act and the Comprehensive Contraceptive Coverage Act were just two of many pieces of progressive legislation that passed the Assembly but never even got to the Senate floor for a vote. I met with Jeff in 9/16 and asked him to please issue a press release, with all IDC members signing, calling on John Flanagan to allow these to come before the Senate for a vote. He promised he would do this, but said they had no chance of passing. I replied that that would be ok; women in NYS would be able to see how their senators voted on the issues. He promised to do the press release but never did. I sent his office a draft press release for him to mark up to get it started. I was told it couldn’t happen until after April budget negotiations. I waited, but still nothing. Finally, as a last-ditch effort, Jeff introduced these bills as hostile amendments in the last week of the session, and they went down. It’s too bad the state-wide conversation wasn’t started in January, at the beginning of the legislative session. Now the SCOTUS is changing, and Roe is endangered in New York. This is just one of my many disappointments with Jeff. He should be demanding that the Senate get back to Albany now to vote on clean RHA ad CCCA bills.
Stacy • Jun 30, 2018 at 1:39 pm
Why no mention of Klein’s very controversial role as leader of the IDC, which caucuses with the Republicans?