The sexual misconduct allegations surrounding mayoral candidate Scott Stringer have prompted two local LGBTQ political clubs to reconsider their choices for mayor after both groups threw their support behind his campaign.
Members of the citywide Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City and Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn (LID) will vote on May 5 and May 6, respectively, to determine whether or not to pull their support of Stringer and back another candidate. The sudden reconsideration comes less than a week after Jean Kim said Stringer, who formerly served in the State Assembly and as Manhattan borough president, groped her during his bid for public advocate two decades ago.
Stonewall, which endorsed Stringer after an April 21 meeting, will hold an “emergency mayoral endorsement meeting” at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday night. Members will receive an email asking whether to rescind their endorsement of Stringer and which alternative candidate to support, if any.
“Although we are asking members to vote on both questions on the same ballot Wednesday evening, we will only open the results of the second question if our original endorsement is withdrawn,” the club noted in an email.
In order to nix the endorsement, however, at least two-thirds of club members must be on board with it.
LID will follow suit the following night with a similar meeting on Thursday at 7 p.m. Members will kick things off with a general discussion before privately voting on as many as three items via email. They will first be asked whether to reverse the endorsement, and if the club opts to do that, members will be asked if they want to proceed with yet another endorsement. As long as a majority of members want to choose a new candidate, they will hold a third vote to determine which candidate to endorse.
“We believe this process to be the fairest way to ensure that our members’ voices are heard, and so that you can weigh in given these latest developments,” LID said in a tweet.
Both clubs held eventful mayoral endorsement meetings featuring lengthy forums due to the large number of candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for mayor. LID’s endorsement vote resulted in a runoff between Stringer and Dianne Morales, with Stringer eventually eking out the victory, while Stonewall’s endorsement meeting was overshadowed by controversial comments made by Andrew Yang.
“Our mayoral endorsement process this year has been a long and complicated one made no easier with the latest developments,” LID said in a tweet. “We owe it to our members, the club as an institution and to the broader LGBTQ community, within and beyond Brooklyn, to get this right.”
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