NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The general election is less than three months away, but it hasn’t stopped political newcomer Kemi Akindude of Arlington from taking her chances running as a write-in candidate in what is considered to be one of the most closely watched congressional races in the country.
Following the death of George Floyd and nationwide racial injustice protests, Akindude said she decided to see what congressional candidates Rep Max Rose (D-Staten Island/South Brooklyn) and Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-East Shore/South Brooklyn) were doing to address systemic racism and inequality on Staten Island.
But the 30-year-old advocate at CASA-NYC, a nonprofit that helps children move out of the foster care system into permanent homes, said all she saw were attack ads from the two candidates and nothing about what they were doing to address those issues.
So she decided to jump into the race in June.
“What I’m focused on is just making sure this election is more about more than just politicians, more than just winning a seat, that it’s about the issues that a lot of people are concerned about, and it seems like they’re not being discussed enough or it seems like they’re only being discussed to the point where it will help a person’s candidacy,” Akindude said.
“There’s a lot of people on Staten Island who want to see injustice righted and who also want to see racial reconciliation. I grew up here and I experienced a lot of bad things, I experienced a lot of racism. But I also experienced a lot of people who were white, Back -- whatever -- who encouraged me and who helped me whether they were teachers, whether they were anything else, so I just want to build up community voices and use this election as a platform for them to be heard,” she said.
Akindude said she is running on a non-partisan platform “for the community” and not affiliating herself with any political party.
Akindude said she tried to collect enough signatures to get on the ballot as a third party candidate but was unable to do so because of the coronavirus pandemic so decided to move forward as a write-in candidate instead.
“I think there are a lot of people who want another option,” Akindude said of her candidacy. “Not everyone can fit into the Max Rose - Nicole Malliotakis binary.”
“So my focus is just get the support of people who feel like they’re voices aren’t being heard, which is many, the support of people who have never voted because they don’t feel like they see themselves in elections, which there’s so many people like that, and to just use those voices in order to call attention to the issues that I think a lot of people care about, but don’t feel as though anyone will listen to them,” she said.
Aside from tackling racism and inequality in the district, Akindude said her other top priorities include education reform, mental health, criminal justice reform, making healthcare more accessible and affordable and helping struggling small businesses pay their rent.
Rep. Max Rose’s campaign was reached, but declined to comment on Akindude’s write-in candidacy.
But Malliotakis’ campaign welcomed Akindude into the race.
“We welcome Kemi Akindude to the race and hope she joins us in trying to nail down where Max Rose stands on important issues like supporting the NYPD and stopping the skyrocketing jump in gun violence that has been killing New Yorkers,” a campaign spokesman for Malliotakis, Rob Ryan, said.
“One day Congressman Rose marches with demonstrators carrying signs that say ‘Blue Lives Murder’ and ‘Defund the NYPD,’ days later he claims to support the NYPD. I’m sure Ms . Akindude realizes, like we do, that Max Rose is cynical and speaks out of both sides of his mouth on nearly every issue,” Ryan said.
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Fed up with Max Rose, Nicole Malliotakis attack ads and inaction addressing racism, write-in candidate emerge - SILive.com
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