Elizabeth Holtzman Said To Be Interested in Weiner’s Seat
Former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman is reportedly interested in taking ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner’s spot.
Holtzman, who served four terms in Congress from 1973 to ‘81, told the New York Times that she “could hit the ground running” if picked to replace Weiner, who resigned in disgraced amid a scandal over explicit text m
A special election to fill Weiner’s seat will be held on Sept. 13. Gov. Andrew Cuomo set the date for the vote in the district, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens and has a large Jewish population.
Holding a special election means party leaders will choose candidates for the election in the predominantly Democratic district, avoiding primary votes.
Holtzman told the paper she had already spoken to Democratic leaders about getting their nod. Among the other names floated as potential Democratic candidates for the seat are Queens assemblymen Rory I. Lancman and David Weprin, along with former City Council member Melinda Katz.
There will be no other major races on the ballot, meaning turnout would be expected to be extremely light.
Whoever wins the seat may have little time to enjoy it. Many analysts believe the Ninth District could be chopped up when New York loses two congressional seats to redistricting before the 2012 elections.
Weiner resigned last month amid a firestorm of negative publicity over his penchant for texting racy photos.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a gift today!
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Most Popular
- 1
Culture Cardinals are Catholic, not Jewish — so why do they all wear yarmulkes?
- 2
News School Israel trip turns ‘terrifying’ for LA students attacked by Israeli teens
- 3
Fast Forward Ye debuts ‘Heil Hitler’ music video that includes a sample of a Hitler speech
- 4
Fast Forward Student suspended for ‘F— the Jews’ video defends himself on antisemitic podcast
In Case You Missed It
-
Yiddish קאָנצערט לכּבֿוד דעם ייִדישן שרײַבער און רעדאַקטאָר באָריס סאַנדלערConcert honoring Yiddish writer and editor Boris Sandler
דער בעל־שׂימחה האָט יאָרן לאַנג געדינט ווי דער רעדאַקטאָר פֿונעם ייִדישן פֿאָרווערטס.
-
Fast Forward Trump’s new pick for surgeon general blames the Nazis for pesticides on our food
-
Fast Forward Jewish feud over Trump escalates with open letter in The New York Times
-
Fast Forward First American pope, Leo XIV, studied under a leader in Jewish-Catholic relations
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.