Pleasantville residents will decide in today’s election whether Congresswoman Nita Lowey should serve another term in Congress. Lowey represents New York’s 17th District, which includes Pleasantville as well as other communities in Westchester County and all of Rockland County.
Lowey is a Democrat who has been in Congress since 1988 but has been representing District 17 since 2013. Her campaign declined to comment for this article.
Nita Lowey, the incumbent representative, hopes to retain her seat in District 17 after Tuesday’s midterm election.
Lowey is the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. Lowey’s website touts her efforts to increase funding for Head Start. Lowey also, with New Hampshire senator Jeanne Shaheen, introduced the Global Health, Empowerment, and Rights (HER) Act, which would remove restrictions on foreign nongovernmental organizations that provide abortion services or information about abortions.
According to Lowey’s website, if re-elected, she plans to continue to fight for raising the federal minimum wage.
In the previous election, she ran unopposed. And for a while, it looked like that was going to be the case for this year’s election, until Reform Party candidate Joe Ciardullo decided to run.
Joe Ciardullo is a Reform Party candidate who is challenging Nita Lowey on Election Day. Photo courtesy of Joe Ciardullo
Ciardullo began his campaign in April after working 28 years at IBM.
He said he decided not to run as a major party candidate because he felt that he can relate to more people by not having a Democratic or Republican label.
“I’m trying to be open to all Americans, and be an ‘average Joe for average Americans,’” he said.
This statement has become the central point in Ciardullo’s campaign.
Because he did not have as much time or money to spend on campaigning as Lowey did, and because Lowey is the incumbent, he said he is not as well known in the Pleasantville area. However, he said he did get to talk to some people at supermarkets in the area, and the reception has been good. Ciardullo said he also advertised in some local newspapers.
According to Ciardullo, the number one issue for people within the town, Westchester County, and the district as a whole, is high taxes.
“Westchester is the highest-taxed county in the nation, and Rockland is the second highest-taxed,” he said. “If elected, I’ll work to make sure that our government is smaller and they aren’t overspending and that they lower taxes in the district.”
Polls are open until 9 p.m.