Maloney Leads Wight in East Side, Queens district

By KIRAN SURY

Rep. Carolyn Maloney was leading by a wide margin in her campaign against Republican challenger Christopher Wight in a race for the 12th Congressional District seat on Manhattan’s East Side and parts of western Queens.

With 14 percent of the precincts reporting, Maloney led Wight, 85 percent to 15 percent.

Maloney, who has represented the 14^th District for the past 20 years, was moved to the 12^th District after congressional redistricting. The new district is heavily Democratic, and Maloney was favored to win.

In an effort to portray Maloney as taking the voters for granted, the Wight campaign released a YouTube video titled ‘Maloney in Violation of FEC Law?’ that shows a person approaching the official Maloney headquarters near East 92^nd Street and finding the building empty. The Maloney campaign called the claims “petty squabbling,” and said it had moved to an office on East 23^rd street for more space.

Wight, an investment banker on leave from J.P. Morgan, challenged Maloney’s economic record, and said that his business background was better when it came to creating jobs.

The Wight campaign  received a recent setback when campaign manager Shashank Tripathi resigned over public outrage about a false tweet he sent from a personal account during Hurricane Sandy, claiming that the New York Stock Exchange was flooded. Tripathi’s name and details were circulated in articles from several major news sources, inadvertently raising the profile of the Wight campaign.

Maloney largely ran on her record, emphasizing past legislative accomplishments such as the Zadroga Act, which provides health care for 9/11 first responders, and the credit card holder’s bill of rights, which enacted new consumer protections.