Surprise! Rep. Yvette Clarke is running for re-election.
The first-term representative confirmed her quest for a second two-year stint in Washington last week.
“Well, you got me,” she joked, after we “confronted” her with the ultimate smoking gun: an invitation to an upcoming fundraiser.
“We were going to put out an official statement, but you figured it out,” she said.
No one has announced a challenge to Clarke, who won the 11th district seat in a wild, racially divisive, four-way race last year, but the congresswoman said she anticipated a challenger because so many elected officials are facing term limits next year, including the man she defeated, Councilman David Yassky.
That was about the biggest news Clarke made in a wide-ranging interview last week with The Brooklyn Paper’s editorial board — the same body that called her “clueless on world affairs” when it endorsed Yassky for the seat last year.
In the talk, Clarke also said:
• She’s recovering nicely from surgery to remove uterine fibroids — an operation that prompted her to take a leave of absence from Congress in late July.
“It was very invasive surgery,” she said. “I don’t want to strain anything. Summer was the best time to get the operation.”
• She’s still hoping to get Vice President Cheney impeached — an initiative that landed her on The Brooklyn Paper front page in June. She knows its an uphill battle.
“We had six sponsors then [in June] — now, I think, we’re up to nine,” she said. “But we’re picking up members week by week.”
Despite a lack of support from Speaker Pelosi, Clarke will stick with it. “It’s a no-brainer for me. This administration has turned this nation upside-down. We will stand up.
“But we’re still about 197 votes short,” she added.
• She doesn’t love all her fellow Democrats: “It’s a slim majority — and there are some folks [in the party] who range in their capacity to show courage. In some cases, they’re Republican-light.”
Hearing the term “Republican-light,” Brooklyn Paper Editor Gersh Kuntzman questioned Clarke on her recent endorsement of Sen. Hillary Clinton, whom rival Barack Obama once described with the same term.
“We know she’s not ‘Republican-light,’” Clarke said. “Barack Obama is a very intelligent man. I’m not taking anything away from him or the others, but Hillary has much more practical experience that will enable us to do more in this nation, to build bridges much more quickly than any of the other candidates.”
Kuntzman questioned Clarke on Clinton’s bridge-building skills, recalling that many have criticized Clinton as someone who would fight some of her husband’s old battles.
“I haven’t found that to be the truth,” Clarke said, citing Clinton’s career from high-powered lawyer to First Lady to candidate to Senator.
“I’ve seen Hillary Clinton do nothing but grow from strength to strength. … There’s a lot of growth there.”
