2020 Election
In Home Stretch of a 3-Year Race, Reed and Mitrano Spar on Policing
|
The race for New York’s 23rd Congressional District turned to mudslinging last week as incumbent Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) accused his opponent, Tracy Mitrano J.D. ’95, of running an “anti-police campaign,” despite Mitrano’s multiple assertions that she is a supporter of law enforcement and against defunding the police. This is the second election where Mitrano and Reed are facing off for the western New York congressional seat. The change in tone comes as protests against police violence and, this weekend, protests in support of police, sweep Ithaca. The accusation came after revelations that an organizer with the Mitrano campaign posted the following on Instagram: “Fuck Tom Reed, fuck cops, fuck capitalism, fuck Trump.” Reed campaign communications director Abbey Daugherty called the comments “hateful and offensive” and claimed them as proof that “what truly motivates Mitrano [is] … a hatred of our law enforcement community and our capitalist system.”
Mitrano said that she only met the organizer once and that “the statements made in the post do not in any way represent me or my values,” in an Oct.