This Democratic Candidate's Unconventional Strategy to Get Young People to Vote
*By Christian Smith*
Former Obama campaign staffer Suraj Patel is hoping to use some unusual campaign tactics to boost voter turnout in New York's 12th congressional district to oust 25-year incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney in next week's Democratic primary.
"One candidate in this race is just going to send mail over and over and over like a Bed, Bath & Beyond mailer to the twenty to thirty thousand people that consistently may vote," Patel said in an interview on Cheddar Monday. "We, on the other hand, are out there every single day talking to voters."
Patel isn't just talking to people. The NYU professor's campaign has teamed up with 50 coffee carts across New York City to hand out 200,000 coffee cups with Patel's name on it. Six of those coffee carts are also actively registering voters.
It's part of an effort to bring in those residents who haven't been active at the ballot box for primaries before. In the 2016 primary, only 8 percent of the district's eligible voters participated in the primary. Maloney beat challenger Peter Lindner by an 80-point margin, but only about 15,000 voters cast a ballot. That compares to the nearly 250,000 people who voted for her in the general election.
Patel also has to contend with the fact that Maloney has the support of the Democratic Party and its large pool of donors. While going against the party's coffers is difficult, Patel says he is pleased with his campaign's fundraising efforts so far.
The primary is one of eight Congressional primary races in New York next week. Voting for the New York primaries gets underway Tuesday, June 26.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/former-obama-staffer-takes-on-25-year-incumbent-democratic-congresswoman-in-new-york-primary).
Israel rolled tanks into northern Gaza for what the military called a targeted raid aiming to destroy Hamas infrastructure. Meanwhile, the UN Security Council failed to pass two separate resolutions proposed by the U.S. and Russia on humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza.
Republican Mike Johnson is the new speaker of the House, but the ally of Donald Trump inherits many of the same political problems that have tormented past GOP leaders.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday spoke out against retaliatory attacks by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank in the aftermath of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks on Israel. He also says he's redoubling his commitment to working on a two-state solution.
The U.N. warned on Wednesday that it is on the verge of running out of fuel in the Gaza Strip, forcing it to sharply curtail relief efforts in the territory blockaded and devastated by Israeli airstrikes since Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel more than two weeks ago.
The judge in Donald Trump’s civil fraud trial fined the former president $10,000 on Wednesday, saying Trump violated a limited gag order barring personal attacks on court staffers.
Republicans eagerly elected Rep. Mike Johnson as House speaker on Wednesday, elevating a deeply conservative but lesser-known leader to the seat of U.S. power and ending for now the political chaos in their majority.
With mail theft and postal carrier robberies up, law enforcement officials have made more than 600 arrests since May in a crackdown launched to address crime that includes carriers being accosted at gunpoint for their antiquated universal keys, the Postal Service announced Wednesday.
