JUMAANE WILLIAMS WIN NEW YORK CITY PUBLIC ADVOCATE SEAT : ASAAL Endorsement helped

UsaNewsOnline.com, New York : The Alliance of South Asian American Labor (ASAAL), the only citywide South Asian organization that makes political endorsements in New York City, wins again with the endorsement of JUMAANE D. WILLIAMS for Public Advocate who received over 33% of the vote where his nearest competitor Queens City Councilman Eric Ulrich received only 19% of the vote. As you know when the previous public advocate, Letitia James, became the New York State Attorney General, the Mayor of the City of New York announced a Citywide Special Election  slated for Tuesday February 26, 2019.

Soon after the announcement of the opening of the seat as many as 33 people submitted their names to run for the Public Advocate! The New York City Election Commission only permitted seventeen of them to run on Election Day. It was a very difficult situation as to who to endorse among so many qualified people and so many friends! But ASAAL leaders from all New York City Chapters viz., Queens, Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island came together screened all the front runners and decided to endorse  the Hon. JUMAANE WILLIAMS, who appeared to be authentic in his appearance, genuine in his presentation, and perfect for the position of Public Advocate. Two days after our endorsement was announced the New York Times also endorsed JUMAANE WILLIAMS to be the next Public Advocate.

You may know, we do political screenings and then endorsements to help our community as we want politicians to know we, the South Asians, are a new but growing community. Our problems are many, and our issues are diverse so whomever we endorse or support must know us and our community well, and must understand our socio cultural background, and economic conditions so that he or she can help if elected!

This monumental win is very historic in nature and important for our membership, for our family, and for our community. We know, no one fights harder thanJUMAANE WILLIAMS and he will now  preside at the City Council where he already served in a very dignified way.  This victory for JUMAANE WILLIAMS is a testament to what ASAAL can do and achieve if we all come together. That is what we have done during the last midterm election. We helped flip three congressional seats including Max Rose in Staten Island in New York 11, Jeff Van Drew in New Jersey 2, and Lucy McBath in Georgia 6 while help defeating most NYS Senate IDC members and making Andrea Stuart-Cousins as the NYS Senate majority leader.

Maf Misbah Uddin, the Founder and President of ASAAL said, JUMAANE WILLIAMS’ victory is our victory. He will not pick and choose issues, he will not think which group to help first, he will help every group all the time. With  JUMAANE WILLIAMS as a Public Advocate this city is in good shape. We are very proud to come to help when he needed our help and we know we made the difference in this election and we are proud of our achievement.

Congratulations to all our officers, leaders, members, volunteers, supporters, Friends, Families, colleagues, and neighbors for being good ASAAL well-wishers. We know you can lead us, you have a better story to tell, but today we are here on your behalf so please support us, lead us to lead others to many American main stream political victories in the future to come.

It is important to mention that, Council Member Jumaane D. Williams represents the 45th Council District in Brooklyn. He authored more than fifty bills that passed including the Bill that eliminated the “Stop and Frisk” police technique. In 2018 he ran for Lieutenant Governor receiving the highest vote in the City. He was elected in 2009, re-elected in 2013 and again in 2017. In the 2014-2017 session, Williams served as Deputy Leader of the New York City Council, and chair of the council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings. He also co-chaired the Council’s Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, and is a founding member of the Progressive Caucus, and also is a member of the Black, Latino & Asian Caucus.