The current issue
Neighborhood Map
Bay Ridge
  • Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights
Brooklyn Heights
  • Downtown, DUMBO
Carroll Gardens
  • Cobble Hill, Red Hook, Boerum Hill
Fort Greene
  • Clinton Hill, Crown Heights
North Brooklyn
  • Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick
Park Slope
  • Prospect Heights, Windsor Terrace, Greenwood Heights
GO Brooklyn
Brooklyn Cyclones
Not Just Nets
Police Blotter
Perspective
Parenting
Politics
Transit
Podcasts
The Brooklyn Bride
Brooklyn Boom
Classifieds
Merchant news
About The Paper
RSS Feeds
Mikey’s Hookup

Bay Ridge’s congressional primary

By The Brooklyn Paper staff
The Brooklyn Paper
Enlarge this image
The Brooklyn Paper / Tom Callan
Mike McMahon, seen here campaigning in Brooklyn on Sunday, won big.
Enlarge this image
The Brooklyn Paper / Michael Lipkin
Steve Harrison lost.

Tools

Print this story
digg
del.icio.us

Mike McMahon, 74 percent
Steve Harrison, 26 percent

13th Congressional District, Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst

Though he came as close as anyone ever did to beating Rep. Vito Fossella (R–Bay Ridge), lawyer Harrison was throttled by McMahon, a well-liked councilman from Staten Island’s North Shore.

“I am humbled by the trust and faith that the voters of Staten Island and Brooklyn have placed in me, and promise to bring the fight all the way to Washington for the change they deserve,” said McMahon, who addressed his supporters at the Stars and Stripes Democratic Club on 15th Avenue in Bensonhurst.

Brooklyn Bridge Realty

Harrison spent the early part of the campaign as Fossella’s lone rival, as he was in 2006. But when Fossella was arrested for drunk driving in May — and then admitted that he sired a lovechild with a woman not his wife — more Democrats expressed interest in the race.

McMahon, who has a proven record of raising money and leadership in the Council, was quickly backed by the party leadership, tossing Harrison under the proverbial bus. He was also backed by many editorial boards, including that of the New York Times, the Staten Island Advance and The Brooklyn Paper.

Unlike two years ago, the national Democratic leaders in Washington have pledged money and support to McMahon, making him the clear favorite to beat GOP nominee Robert Straniere and put the city’s lone Republican congressional seat back into the Democratic column.

“The difference came down to money and star power,” said Harrison, who did not even carry the Brooklyn portion of the district, early returns showed. “We knew it would be tough, we knew it would be uphill. I got creamed in Staten Island.”

But in the end, Harrison did endorse McMahon as “the best candidate against the Republicans,” though is “not a shoo-in.”

He also added that he was “hurt by the outcome,” but added, “I’m not going away.”

Harrison spoke from the front stoop of his home on 79th Street in Bay Ridge, where his family and two dozen supporters gathered to watch the results.

©2008 The Brooklyn Paper

→Fort Greene: Downtown congressional primary

Reader Feedback

Enter your comment below

By submitting this comment, you agree to the following terms:

You agree that you, and not BrooklynPaper.com or its affiliates, are fully responsible for the content that you post. You agree not to post any abusive, obscene, vulgar, slanderous, hateful, threatening or sexually-oriented material or any material that may violate applicable law; doing so may lead to the removal of your post and to your being permanently banned from posting to the site. You grant to BrooklynPaper.com the royalty-free, irrevocable, perpetual and fully sublicensable license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform and display such content in whole or in part world-wide and to incorporate it in other works in any form, media or technology now known or later developed.

First name
Last name
Your neighborhood
Email address
Daytime phone

Your letter must be signed and include all of the information requested above. (Only your name and neighborhood are published with the letter.) Letters should be as brief as possible; while they may discuss any topic of interest to our readers, priority will be given to letters that relate to stories covered by The Brooklyn Paper.

Letters will be edited at the sole discretion of the editor, may be published in whole or part in any media, and upon publication become the property of The Brooklyn Paper. The earlier in the week you send your letter, the better.