New York Democrat Suraj Patel sets up rematch against Maloney

New York Democrat Suraj Patel announced Monday that he will mount a House race, setting up a rematch against Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D) after a high-profile bout in 2020. 

Patel, a lawyer and former Obama administration staffer, is again expected to challenge Maloney from the left in the newly drawn 12th Congressional District. Patel lost by about 4 points in 2020 to Maloney, the chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, after losing to her by 20 points in 2018. 

In a statement, Patel leaned into his upbringing as a child of working-class immigrants.

“Democrats need a new generation of leaders,” Patel said in a statement. “This is a new decade, a new district, and as we enter year three of a pandemic we’ve got new challenges, which means we need a government that proactively develops 21st century solutions to 21st century problems. I will solve those problems because I have lived them.” 

“I understand what our small business are going through — my earliest memory is stacking newspapers in my [family’s] bodega before my dad went off to his job as an MTA worker and for the last two years, I’ve fought off foreclosures for the family business; making sure workers have health care, jobs and landed on their feet.” 

Patel’s campaign also released internal polling along with the announcement showing Patel winning 37 percent of the vote in a head-to-head with Maloney, while the incumbent gets 41 percent of the vote. Maloney leads Rana Abdelhamid, another progressive primary challenger, by a 44 percent to 23 percent margin in the same survey.

When the entire field is polled, Maloney leads with 37 percent support, trailed by Patel at 28 percent and Abdelhamid at 9 percent. 

The 2020 primary ended on a bitter note when Patel sued over the process of counting an unprecedented flood of absentee ballots, urging officials to count ballots that arrived by the deadline but were not properly postmarked. Patel ultimately conceded the race.

In this race, Patel will also have another progressive to battle against, with Abdelhamid winning the support of the grassroots group Justice Democrats.

Maloney has long been a target of New York progressives who say they want to shake up Washington, but she will likely be tough to beat, holding her seat since 1993.