Weprin Picked By Democrats To Run for Weiner’s Seat
New York Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Queens), has been picked by Democratic leaders to run for ex-Rep. Anthony Weiner’s seat in a special election on Sept. 13. A Republican opponent has not yet been named.
Weiner’s Ninth Congressional district includes areas of Brooklyn and Queens with large Jewish populations. High voter turnout is not expected in the special election, as no other major races will be on the ballot.
Weiner resigned last month amid a scandal involving racy photos he sent on Twitter.
Political thinkers and analysts believe state lawmakers may eliminate the seat when districts are redrawn in 2012.
Some pundits believed that would push party leaders to select an elder statesman with no ambitions to fill the seat, but Weprin is still relatively young.
Among the others who tossed their hats in the ring for the seat was former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman, who served four terms in Congress.
Special election rules allow party leaders to hand pick candidates, avoiding primary votes.
Weprin spent eight years on City Council before being elected to the state assembly. He lost a bid for City Comptroller in 2009. Weprin comes from a Jewish family of politicians. His father Saul served as Assembly Speaker until his death in 1994, and his brother Mark serves in the state assembly.
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