NY-19: 'Law & Order: SVU' star running for Congress

[RandySF]

CNN)Diane Neal knows her way around a fictitious courtroom and now she wants to be a lawmaker.

Neal, who played Assistant District Attorney Casey Novak on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," has announced that she is making an independent run for New York's 19th Congressional District seat.

"Ok, so it's ON!!! But I'm doing with nearly no staff, no donations (yet), with no party," Neal tweeted Tuesday. "Website will be up later today (fingers crossed) and all ready to go."

Neal, 41, who also had roles in other hit shows including "NCIS" and "Suits," said her "goal is bigger than (political) parties."
"Goal is no negativity," she added. "Goal is HIGH ROAD all the way."

Neal told The Daily Freeman that she loves this country and that service is in her blood.

"The majority of my family, most are active service at the moment," she said. "Even my grandmother, who escaped the Holocaust, she came to New York, she joined the Navy. She was a bad a**, she was awesome."


https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/07/entertainment/diane-neal-law-order-congress/index.html

[Cha]

1. Diane Neal couldn't be a trumper

if she's "no negativity all the way".

This is interesting to me.. I've seen her in a lot of shows.. just not the law and order one.

"New York District 19 is located in New York's Hudson Valley and Catskills regions. District 19 lies north of the New York City metropolitan area and mostly south of Albany. It is currently represented by Republican John Faso."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York%27s_19th_congressional_district

[pnwmom]

2. If it's represented by a R, then she might have a better chance as an I than a D. Good for her. n/t

[sarah FAILIN]

3. She also might make it as an independent.

As a tv personality she has a built in fan base. Where I live you have to get signed petitions from registered voters to get on the ballot and her fans in her district could help her out with that. It's hard for an average person to run as an independent because of that.

[pnwmom]

4. I agree. That's I meant when I said she might do better as an "I." :)

[Tom Rinaldo]

12. This is not a Red district, it is Purple

It seems to me like many here are reacting as if we are lucky to find anyone to run against Faso who has a chance of winning. That is nonsense. Faso is doomed here in 2018 (yes I live here) UNLESS someone can be found to split the anti-Faso/Trump vote. That is EXACTLY what she would do here.

[NewJeffCT]

5. Isn't there already a Democrat running, though?

at least that's what I heard the other day

[pnwmom]

6. Isn't there always a Democrat running against Bernie? n/t

[crazycatlady]

7. I believe the Democratic primary has 6 candidates

And she wants to run on the Independence Party line.

[sarah FAILIN]

8. I won't support an I over a D

Unless the D is unsupportable. It is a sure way to let an R win.

[crazycatlady]

9. In NY, the I line can sometimes go to a D

Fusion voting there is very confusing (and petitioning is hard) but it can mean the margins in a close election.

She has to get 3500 signatures for the line. It's a pretty tough task as many people who are I don't realize they're registered I.

(Independence Party is often confused with unaffiliated. Most people probably check the box by mistake).

[CK_John]

13. Faso is running for Sen Gillibrand seat. I believe she is a Trumper trying to save Faso

House seat.

[crazycatlady]

15. If she makes the ballot

I hope she takes more votes away from Faso.

[Jim Lane]

19. She wants to run as an independent, not an Independent.

The article linked in the OP isn't clear on the point, but this article clarifies it. She's not a registered Independence Party member who, with enough signatures, could enter an Independence Party primary against Faso (or some other Republican seeking the Independence line) and possibly deprive the Republican of that source of additional votes. If she were doing that, it might be beneficial. Instead, however, she's a registered Democrat who's trying to get enough signatures to qualify for the November ballot as an independent.

If everything falls out exactly wrong, the difference between capital "I" and small "i" could determine who's the next Speaker of the House.

[crazycatlady]

20. Democrats have had the Independence line

And many run on the WFP line without registering WFP.

[Jim Lane]

21. In 2016, Faso had the Independence line.

I agree it doesn't always go to a Republican.

Anyway, none of this matters, given that Neal is apparently not seeking the Independence line.

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. NO. This is my district. It is neither good for her nor for those of us who oppose Trump

I just stepped down as Chair of our Town's Democratic Committee (I'm still a Committee member). Our Committee was one of the five sponsors of a debate among the six Democrats who are seeking the Democratic nomination in a Democratic primary to he held in June. The debate was held on the afternoon of Super Bowl Sunday during a snow storm. The room was packed with hundreds of Democratic activists and upwards of a hundred more had to be turned away due to a lack of space. The debate was live streamed and I know quite a few people who watched it that way.

The 19th District is a swing district. A Republican has represented it for seven years and before that a Democrat for 20 or so years (just an estimate on time - the late progressive Rep. Maurice Hinchey.) Local Democrats are fired up to win back this seat. Canvassing has been going on since late last Spring around here. Virtually all six Democratic candidates running have significant grass roots backing and most have very solid resumes. All have raised considerable amounts of money from small donors.

All did quite well during the debate. We have a strong group of Democrats seeking the nomination. The crowd gave them all a great reception. Whoever among them wins the Democratic primary will have Democrats united behind them. And whoever wins sure as hell is not going to drop out of the race so that Diane Neal can run against the Republican incumbent, John Faso, unopposed. If Neal can pull more than 100 Faso voters away from supporting him I will be shocked. Who do you think she will pull votes away from? In a three way race Faso wins easily in this district. In a two way race, this year, we can defeat him.

How is Diane Neal different than Jill Stein? Neil is refusing to compete for the Democratic nomination. She is not pledged to support whoever wins the Democratic primary in our district. Most of the current Democratic candidates are very active in our communities. They are not machine politicians. If Diane Neil swings this district back to Faso again by splitting the vote against him, it could make the difference between Paul Ryan or Nancy Pelosi becoming the next Speaker of the House. And that will be what determines if the Trump regime is held accountable and perhaps whether Trump himself is impeached.

If Diane Neal is willing to compete for the Democratic nomination I don't care if she considers herself an Independent or not, as long as she backs the winner in November. If it is her, fine. But if she plans to run as an Independent in November she is handing a key House seat over to Republicans, again We don't need her celebrity status to win back this district. Democrats are mobilized here.

[Jim Lane]

16. Thanks for the information! Question about the Independence line...

As you say, this is not a district where the Democratic line is the curse of death. In 2016, Faso (R) beat Teachout (D) by 8 percentage points.

Looking at the results of that race, I see that Faso had the Independence line. I don't know how the Independence Party picks its nominees when it's cross-endorsing a major-party candidate, instead of running its own candidate. Is there a chance that the Neal candidacy could help the eventual Democratic nominee, if she wrests the Independence line from Faso? It wasn't huge, but his votes on Independence were about one-third of his total margin over Teachout.

[lapislzi]

17. Independence Party is hard right libertarian

They are very influential in my part of NY, especially with the Second Amendment crowd. I cannot imagine them endorsing a dark horse, especially one without particular bona fides. They would never take the chance.

[Jim Lane]

18. I was thinking about an Independence Party primary but I see that's mistaken.

My assumption was that Neal, as a registered Independence Party member, could seek that party's line even without the permission of party leaders. Thus, she could primary Faso. If she made it onto the November ballot as the Independence Party candidate, her candidacy might be a net detriment to Faso, if some of those hard-right libertarian types vote for her instead of him.

From further reading, however, I see that I was mistaken. The article linked in the OP isn't clear on the point, but this article states that she's a registered Democrat. Thus, she's hoping to be on the November ballot as an independent, not as the Independence Party nominee. My post was an example of the confusion that crazycatlady mentioned in #9.

Given these facts, her candidacy is utterly hopeless and would have no effect except to benefit Faso (assuming he runs for re-election). The immediate issue is whether she can get enough petition signatures. I suspect that the GOP will overtly or covertly help her with that.

[dsc]

10. This is a perfect example of what is wrong with journalism today

Not a single, solitary, syllable was devoted to any policy position. No wonder people have no idea what politicians stand for.

[Iggo]

23. Yuh-huh. She stands for niceness and not for not-niceness.

[brooklynite]

14. NY-19 has six viable candidates in the Democratic Primary...

...including 2 who raised more than Faso did.

Take your pick:
Antonio Delgado (D) - Attorney
Brian Flynn (D) - Businessman
Pat Ryan (D) - Technology Executive & Iraq War Veteran
Jeff Beals (D) - Teacher, Ex-US Foreign Service Diplomat & Democratic Activist
Dave Clegg (D) - Attorney & Community Activist
Gareth Rhodes (D) - Law School Student, Ex-Gubernatorial Aide & Ex-White House Intern

[Raine1967]

22. I wish her luck! Bonus Super Fun fact:

That district was represented by Bella Abzug for two terms until she was redistricted to NY-20.