By Rebecca Henely
U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria) and Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights) will not face any challengers from within their party at the primaries, but neither will their opponents.
Longtime House members Maloney and Crowley both have a Republican challenger and Crowley also has a Green Party opponent in the Nov. 6 general election.
Other than Crowley, who lives in Woodside, nobody running for the congressional districts that would cover the neighborhoods of Astoria, Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst, Corona and parts of Elmhurst and Maspeth lives in the borough.
Maloney, an Upper East Side resident who has been representing parts of western Queens in Congress since 1993, has one opponent in Christopher Wigt. A longtime investment banker from the Upper East Side, Wigt also has the support of the Conservative and Independence parties, the city Board of Elections said.
Upper East Side Republican David Paul Garland had collected signatures to be placed on the ballot but had later been removed, a BOE spokesman said.
Maloney has the nomination of the Working Families Party as well as the Democratic Party, the BOE said.
The new 12th District, which Maloney and Wigt are running for, includes Long Island City, parts of Sunnyside and Astoria south of Ditmars Boulevard as well as Greenpoint in Brooklyn and parts of Manhattan’s Upper East Side and Midtown.
Crowley, who has been in office since 1999 and also has the support of the Working Families Party in this race, is being challenged by Bronx Republican William Gibbons Jr., who has the Conservative Party’s endorsement, the BOE said. Professor Anthony Gronowicz, who is an author and lives in the Bronx, is challenging Crowley as a Green Party member, the BOE said.
Sunnyside Republican Walter Iwachiw also filed signatures but appears to have been removed from the ballot, according to the latest BOE records.
The three men are running for the new 14th District. This district includes Jackson Heights, College Point, East Elmhurst, Corona, Woodside, Astoria above Ditmars Boulevard and parts of Elmhurst, Sunnyside, Maspeth and the Bronx.
On the state side, state Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria), a Greek American who was elected to the Senate in 2010 after serving for 10 years in the state Assembly, also has a potential challenger in Aurelio Antonio Arcabascio. His district covers Long Island City, Sunnyside and parts of Astoria, Woodside, Maspeth, Ridgewood, Glendale, Woodhaven and Ozone Park.
Arcabascio, an Italian American, is registered as an independent but has been endorsed by the Republican Party.
Reach reporter Rebecca Henely by e-mail at rhenely@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4564.
