With the Congressional primary completed Democratic candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is set to face Republican Anthony Pappas in the general election with the winner representing constituents of New York’s 14th Congressional district.
The district includes parts of both Queens and the Bronx. The Queens neighborhoods in the district includes Sunnyside, Astoria, College Point, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona and Woodside. The Bronx part of the district contains the neighborhoods of Morris Park, Parchester, Pelham Bay, Throngs Neck and City Island.
Ocasio-Cortez has been championed as a community activist in her home borough of the Bronx, while Pappas, as a college professor at St. Johns University, has community involvement mainly in Queens. As a representative for the entirety of the district, both candidates will be tasked with reaching out across boroughs to cater to the needs of all of their constituents.
So with that in mind, QCP asked both Pappas and Ocasio-Cortez, the following question and below that is their answers.
To Pappas: The 14th district spans across the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx. As a resident of Queens, how are you going to approach issues that affect the Bronx?
Anthony Pappas: “I will listen to the concerns of the people throughout the district, including the Bronx. I will set up town halls and other events in the Bronx and strive to address their concerns. My priority concern is to stop the carnage of human lives in the court system. People commit suicide during court proceedings, loved ones hold funerals, but judges cannot be held accountable and nothing is learned.”
To Ocasio-Cortez: The 14th district spans across the boroughs of Queens and the Bronx. As a resident of the Bronx, how are you going to approach issues that affect Queens?
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “Residents of Queens and the Bronx are united by common struggles around things like the rising costs of housing, unaffordable healthcare, and stagnating wages. I’ve spent the past year and a half talking to neighbors throughout Queens and the Bronx, and those people came together to topple entrenched corporate power that was stifling our community. In the next few months, I look forward to helping more and more of my neighbors in Queens and the Bronx register to vote, giving us all a louder voice in Washington and in our city.”
The general election is Nov. 6.
