Felder was elected to the New York City Council in District 44 in 2001.[3] He was re-elected in 2005[4] and 2009.[5]
During his tenure on the City Council,Felder gained popularity among his conservative Jewish constituents for advocating strongly on their behalf and for supporting Israel.[6] Although personally opposed to homosexuality as being against Orthodox Judaism,he backed Christine Quinn for City Council Speaker in what was seen as a political move to gain allies.[7] Although Felder claimed to support Quinn,he said he could not actually vote for her because of religious reasons.[8] When the time came to vote Quinn for Council Speaker,Felder did not cast a vote and took a trip to the restroom.[9] Unlike nearly all other New York Democrats,Felder is a staunch opponent of abortion.[10]
Felder backed city funding for religious schools,while maintaining that he opposes displays of religion in public schools.[11][12] Felder has also gained attention by calling for better labeling of caffeine content in foods and beverages,[13] as well as a ban on the distribution of unsolicited fliers.[14] Felder is perhaps best known for his attempt to ban the feeding of pigeons in New York City.[15]
In 2005,Felder crossed party lines to endorse then-RepublicanMike Bloomberg in his bid for reelection as New York City mayor.[16] Felder asserted that Bloomberg was the only Republican he had ever voted for and implied that Bloomberg would be the only Republican he would ever support.[17]
Felder was Chair of the Council's Subcommittee on Landmarks,Public Siting,and Maritime uses in his first term. In January 2006,he became Chair of the Committee on Governmental Operations. As Chair of Governmental Operations,Felder supported Mayor Bloomberg's plan to curb Pay to Play contracting practices and the Mayor's bid to extend term limits so the Mayor could run for a third term.[18]
The committee also provided oversight of the City Board of Elections' implementation of the Help America Vote Act and enacted legislation to transfer the Environmental Control Board from the Department of Environmental Protection to the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings. The Committee also enacted legislation to extend term limits from two terms to three. As a member of the Council's Land Use Committee,Felder was part of a group of New York state legislators that has consistently blocked plans to renovate United Nations headquarters,calling the UN anti-American and anti-Israel.[19] In spite of such calls,the UN announced in 2007 that it would undergo a $1 billion makeover.[20]
In April 2006,Felder accused the highest-ranking uniformed member of the NYPD,Chief Joseph Esposito,of using inappropriate language when Esposito attempted to quell individuals who entered a police station house during a riot in Borough Park. Felder indicated that he personally heard the chief say,"Get the fucking Jews out of here." The Civilian Complaint Review Board,which investigates police misconduct,later found the accusation against Esposito unsubstantiated,but did reprimand Chief Esposito for using profanity. When subsequently asked to comment on the Review Board's finding,Felder's office stated that Felder had "no comment" about the incident and that he "wants to put the matter behind him".[21]
Felder announced his Democratic presidential primary election vote for Senator Barack Obama "in protest" for what he felt was bad behavior by the campaign of New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton,following comments made by former president Bill Clinton regarding the South Carolina primary.[22]
In 2008,Felder challenged incumbent State Senator Kevin Parker in a Democratic primary in Senate District 21.[23] Parker won the primary with less than 50% of the vote.[24]
Felder was elected to the New York State Senate in District 17 in November 2012. The district had been reconfigured as a "Super Jewish" district;reportedly,the Republican-controlled chamber drew the district specifically with Felder in mind. Even though incumbent David Storobin had won the seat in a special election,the GOP offered little support to him,and Felder handily defeated him.[25]
Following the election to the Senate,Felder announced that despite being elected as a Democrat,he intended to caucus with the Republicans.[26] That decision,along with Felder's stated willingness to return to the Senate Democratic Conference if doing so would benefit his district,had attracted attention and speculation during his Senate tenure.[27] Brooklyn Democratic Party Chairman Frank Seddio called Felder's defection a "disgrace and a complete betrayal of his constituents."[26]
As a State Senator,Felder was the only Democrat to vote against the $15 minimum wage;he cast deciding votes against the immigration-friendly New York Dream Act,killing it;he stated that ending stop-and-frisk was a mistake;he torpedoed the 5-cent plastic bag fees,thus winning himself the 2016 "Oil Slick Award" from an environmental advocacy group;and he supported pro-Israel policies like anti-BDS laws and Iran divestment.[27][28] On the final day of the 2013 legislative session,Felder voted against a hostile amendment that would have attached a pro-choice bill to an unrelated piece of legislation.[29][30]
Felder was reelected to the Senate without opposition in 2014[31] and 2016.[32] In the latter election,he ran on the Democratic,Republican,and Conservative lines.[32]
In April 2018,other lawmakers accused Felder of "essentially holding the $168 billion budget hostage until the state agreed not to interfere with the curriculum at the private Jewish schools known as yeshivas."[33]
After an April 2018 agreement returned the Independent Democratic Conference (a breakaway faction of Democrats) to the mainline Democratic conference,Felder became the swing vote in the State Senate;this placed a spotlight on his continued affiliation with Senate Republicans. On April 24,2018,Felder announced that he intended to continue caucusing with Senate Republicans during the remaining weeks of the 2018 legislative session;Felder made this statement despite the possibility that two special elections being held that day could give the Democratic Party a numerical majority in the State Senate,and despite Governor Andrew Cuomo's public support for Democratic control of the Senate.[34] On April 25,Cuomo sent Felder an open letter to pressure him to rejoin the Senate Democratic Conference.[35] Felder continued to caucus with the Republicans.[25]
According to a May 2018 article in the Times Union,Brooklyn insiders believed that Felder would not be swayed by pressure,and that the Democratic establishment did not understand the "transactional" approach most of Felder's Orthodox Jewish constituents take to politics. Several people familiar with the district's dynamics told the Times-Union that most of Felder's constituents wear their party registration very loosely. According to one of them,Jacob Kornbluh of Jewish Insider,the area's voters mostly register as Democrats in order to have a say in local elections,but prefer Republicans at the state level.[25] On paper,Felder's district is one of the more conservative districts in New York City. Donald Trump carried it with 52.8 percent of the vote in 2016,and Mitt Romney carried it with 58.3 percent in 2012. In both cases,only the Staten Island-based 24th district gave a higher vote percentage to a Republican presidential candidate.[36]
In June 2018,Democratic State Committee members approved an informal resolution recommending Felder's ouster from the party.[25] Former state Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs,speaking to reporters afterward,reiterated their exasperation with Felder:[25]
It's my belief is that the party is not merely a vessel for someone's personal ambition to take someone from where they are to where they want to be. The party represents certain principles. Here you have someone who took the Democratic line, ran on it, won on it, and immediately stood with the Republicans.
In the 2018 Democratic primary in September 2018, Felder defeated Blake Morris,[37] a lawyer.[38] Morris was endorsed by Brooklyn Progressive Action Network,[39] the labor union SEIU 32BJ,[40] and the progressive group Our Revolution.[41] Felder won re-election on November 6, 2018.[42]
The 2018 elections saw the Democrats win control of the State Senate for only the second time since World War II. Felder sought to rejoin the Senate Democratic Conference. However, on December 31, 2018, the Senate Democratic Conference announced that Felder would not be allowed to rejoin its ranks. Even without Felder, the Democrats had 39 Senate seats, seven more than the 32 needed for a majority.[43] On January 9, 2019, the Daily News reported that Felder had decided against caucusing with the Republicans, and was looking forward to rejoining the Senate Democrats "'at the appropriate time'".[44] Felder was accepted into the Democratic caucus July 1, 2019 after having voted with the Democrats on multiple major pieces of legislation.[45]
Personal life
Felder's father was Rabbi Harry Felder, spiritual leader of Beth Aaron Congregation in Borough Park.[46]
Related Research Articles
The Conservative Party of New York State is an American political party founded in 1962 following conservative dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in New York. Running on the Conservative Party line, James L. Buckley won election to the U.S. Senate in 1970 and served for one term. Since 2010, the party has held "Row C" on New York ballots—the third-place ballot position, directly below the Democratic and Republican parties—because it received the third-highest number of votes of any political party in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 New York gubernatorial elections. The party is known for its strategy of attempting to influence the Republican Party in a more conservative direction.
New York is a Democratic stronghold and is considered one of the "Big Three" Democratic strongholds alongside California and Illinois. The following table indicates the party of elected officials in the U.S. state of New York:
The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. The Democratic Party has held control of the New York State Senate since 2019. The Senate Majority Leader is Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
Anthony Avella Jr. is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the New York State Senate's 11th district in northeast Queens from 2011 to 2019. The district included the mostly affluent neighborhoods of College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, Little Neck, Douglaston, Floral Park, Beechhurst, Malba and Auburndale. Avella also served as a member of the New York City Council from 2002 to 2009, representing some of the same Queens neighborhoods in District 19. Avella is a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of Democratic state senators who allied themselves with Senate Republicans. He was also a losing candidate in the 2009 New York City mayoral election, the 2013 Queens Borough President election, and the 2017 New York City mayoral election.
Diane J. Savino is an American Democratic politician who represented the 23rd Senate District in the New York State Senate, in northern Staten Island and parts of southern Brooklyn, including Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Bath Beach, Brighton Beach, and Coney Island. She currently serves as a senior advisor to New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Kevin Parker is an American politician from the state of New York. He is a member of the New York State Senate representing the 21st district, which comprises portions of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of East Flatbush, Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington, Park Slope, and Windsor Terrace. A Democrat, Parker was first elected to the Senate in 2002.
Hakeem Sekou Jeffries is an American politician and attorney who has served as House Minority Leader and Leader of the House Democratic Caucus since 2023. He has been the U.S. representative for New York's 8th congressional district since 2013 and was a member of the New York State Assembly from 2007 to 2012.
The 2012 New York state elections took place on November 6, 2012. These elections included the 2012 presidential election, an election to one U.S. Senate seat, and elections to all 27 New York congressional seats, all 63 seats in the New York State Senate, and all 150 seats in the New York State Assembly.
David Storobin is a New York attorney and a former New York State Senator. A Republican, Storobin represented District 27 in the New York State Senate for several months in 2012.
The 2012 New York State Senate elections were held on November 6, 2012 to elect representatives from all 63 State Senate districts in the U.S. state of New York. Primary elections were held on September 13, 2012.
The Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) was a group of several Democratic members of the New York State Senate that was formed to caucus with the Republican Party and protect its status as the majority party. At the time of its dissolution, the IDC included eight members: Jeffrey D. Klein, Marisol Alcantara, Tony Avella, David Carlucci, Jesse Hamilton, Jose Peralta, Diane Savino, and David Valesky.
Jesse Hamilton is an American lawyer and politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented the New York State Senate's 20th District, including parts of the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Crown Heights, Brownsville and East Flatbush from 2015 to 2018. Hamilton is a former member of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of Democratic senators who allied themselves with Senate Republicans. Hamilton is the Secretary of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, the official organization of the Democratic Party for Brooklyn. He was defeated in the September 2018 Democratic primary election by lawyer Zellnor Myrie.
The 2016 New York state elections took place on November 8, 2016. Presidential primary elections occurred on April 19, 2016, congressional primary elections occurred on June 28, 2016, and state and local primary elections occurred on September 13, 2016. One U.S. Senate seat and all 27 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives were up for election, as were all 63 seats in the New York State Senate and all 150 seats in the New York State Assembly. The 2016 United States presidential election occurred on the same date as the general election.
New York's 17th State Senate district is one of 63 districts in the New York State Senate. It has been represented by Democrat Iwen Chu since 2023. Prior to redistricting in 2022, Simcha Felder represented this district - he now represents the 22nd district.
The 202nd New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 4, 2017, to December 31, 2018, during the seventh and eighth years of Andrew Cuomo's governorship, in Albany
The 2018 New York State Senate elections were held on November 6, 2018, to elect representatives from all 63 State Senate districts in the U.S. state of New York. Primary elections were held on September 13, 2018.
The 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in New York were held on November 8, 2022, to elect the 26 U.S. representatives from the State of New York, one from each of the state's 26 congressional districts. The elections coincided with elections for governor, U.S. Senate, attorney general, comptroller, state senate, and assembly, and various other state and local elections.
The 2020 New York State Senate elections were held on November 3, 2020, to elect representatives from all 63 State Senate districts across the U.S. state of New York. Primary elections were held on June 23, 2020.
The 2021 New York City borough president elections were held on November 2, 2021. Four of the five incumbent borough presidents were unable to run for reelection due to term limits. Only the Queens borough president was eligible to seek re-election after winning a special election in 2020.
The 2016 New York State Senate elections were held on November 8, 2016, to elect representatives from all 63 State Senate districts in the U.S. state of New York.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
