New York City Democrats are determined to block a new Asian Republican legislator from taking the seat he won in an upset last month. Asian groups are calling the move a modern-day “Chinese Exclusion Act.”
Democrats suffered big and surprising setbacks in the midterm elections. Lee Zeldin ran the closest race for governor in 20 years and Republicans captured four new House seats. Democratic support among Hispanic and Asian urban voters slipped badly.
Rather than question why Chang took out a 26-year incumbent in Brooklyn by five points, Democrats plan to nullify the will of voters by claiming that Chang doesn’t satisfy residency technicalities.
Even the liberal New York Daily News is incensed by this power grab and notes: “the first question is would they refuse to seat a Democratic member under identical circumstances? The honest answer is absolutely not.” The News points out the Brooklyn Democratic chair recently represented an Assembly district while her husband held office in a different district.
Wait. We thought Republicans were the “threats to democracy.”
