At a special meeting of the Village Independent Democrats (VID) held at St. John’s Church on Thursday August 14th, endorsement for Lieutenant Governor was discussed. Previously, the VID had endorsed Kathy Hochul for this office, but not her running mate Andrew Cuomo for governor. For that position, they had endorsed Zephyr Teachout, but not her running mate Tim Wu, who had not yet announced his candidacy. To straighten out this split endorsement, and also address other issues, the club met in a special August session. Tim Wu came in person to explain his positions and make his argument for an endorsement, and Kathy Hochul was represented by Democratic Party District Leader Keen Berger. After an extensive question and answer period, and a vigorous discussion among VID members, the club voted to endorse Wu over Hochul by a vote of 19 to 10. Although many topics were discussed, one of the recurrent issues was whether the candidates would stand up to Governor Cuomo when necessary. Hochul was reported to have stated that this was not the role of the Lieutenant Governor and Tim Wu said that he would strive to make this one of his goals if elected.
Alec Pruchnicki is a member of the executive committee of the VID.
