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#Mondaire Jones says Nancy Pelosi has his back in NY-10 race

“Mondaire Jones says Nancy Pelosi has his back in NY-10 race”

A congressman drawn out of his suburban New York district after the unconstitutional gerrymander by state Democrats is telling potential supporters he has the backing of powerful House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in his bid to beat out a crowded field for a newly drawn district running from Park Slope to lower Manhattan

Rep. Mondaire Jones — who swooped in from Rockland County to run in the Democratic primary in newly redrawn 10th Congressional District instead of his redrawn 17th — has been boasting that Pelosi is aiding his campaign to keep him in the House of Representatives, Democratic sources told The Post.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou and Councilwoman Carlina Rivera are among the candidates vying for the open seat, vacated by veteran Rep. Jerry Nadler when he decided to challenge Carolyn Maloney after his Upper West Side district was removed from the 10th.

Pelosi reached out to leaders at the national AFL-CIO to encourage its New York affiliates to consider endorsing Jones, the congressman said while making pitches for support.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has reached out to leaders to endorse Jones.
Bloomberg via Getty Images

“Jones said Pelosi is running interference for him,” a union official told The Post on Thursday.   

Jones also said Pelosi made phone calls to discourage Dan Goldman — the chief Democratic House Intelligence Committee lawyer during the first impeachment trial of Donald Trump and who resides in the district — from entering the race.

Jones said Pelosi told Goldman that “I’m going to be treated as an incumbent” in the election, a source said.

According to the sources, Jones also said he’s going to defeat former Mayor Bill de Blasio in the primary campaign and urged Democratic Party sources to jump on board.

He also was dismissive of other candidates or potential candidates. For example, Jones told party insiders that Rivera can’t raise the funds necessary to run a competitive race.

Goldman’s camp did not deny Jones’ claim that Pelosi spoke to him about the primary race and favored Jones.

“As the lead counsel of the House’s first impeachment of Donald Trump, Dan Goldman talks frequently with members of Congress. He does not share those conversations publicly,” a source close to Goldman said.

Bill de Blasio
Bill de Blasio is among the crowded field running for Congress.
Stephen Yang

The Jones campaign had no immediate comment.

Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said: “Congressman Mondaire Jones is a well-respected member of the Democratic Caucus who has been a tireless advocate for New Yorkers. The Speaker has yet to make any endorsements since the new map has been finalized and has not discouraged anyone from running. 

“However, the Speaker’s practice is to treat incumbents as incumbents in whatever district they run in,” Hammill said.

One Democratic source said Jones’ pitch to the party faithful was “so much naivete and arrogance” and turned some prominent Democrats off.

The first-term congressman currently represents the 17th congressional district that includes all of Rockland County and parts of Westchester. But under the court-ordered redistricting plan, his district now stretches farther north into Putnam and Dutchess counties.

A special master redrew the congressional maps after the courts struck down districts drafted by Democratic lawmakers as illegal partisan gerrymandering, which Republicans derided as the “Hochulmander” because Gov. Kathy Hochul approved them.

Rep. Sean Patrick Patrick Maloney, who serves in the neighboring 18th CD and is chairman of the Democratic National Committee, announced that he would run in the newly drawn 17th CD — setting off a potential primary with Jones.

Jones then stunned New York Democrats by saying last week he would run in the tenth CD. He insisted in private talks with Democrats that the switch was not part of a deal with Patrick Maloney.

A progressive gay black man, Jones told Democrats he feels a connection to the district, which includes neighborhoods with a heavy presence of LGBT voters, such as Greenwich Village and Park Slope.    

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