Dem NY-1 Congressional Candidate John Avlon Wants 6 Summer Debates
SUFFOLK COUNTY, NY — Just hours after his Democratic primary night win in the race for New York’s 1st Congressional District seat, John Avlon began the day Wednesday by challenging incumbent U.S. Rep. Nick LaLota, a Republican, to six debates starting in July.
According to unofficial results by the Suffolk County Board of Elections, Avlon, a former CNN analyst from Sag Harbor, was projected to win the race by a wide margin over Nancy Goroff, a former Stony Brook University chemistry professor — and face off with LaLota in the November race.
On Wednesday, Avlon came out swinging against his incumbent opponent: “The voters in New York’s First Congressional District deserve a series of real debates on the issues that affect their lives. They deserve to judge the solutions we put forward and see the difference between Nick Lalota’s extreme MAGA approach to politics and my belief that we can come together and find common-sense solutions to our most pressing problems.”
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Avlon added: “The contrast is clear in this race: While Nick LaLota wants to cut Social Security, the Affordable Care Act, and Medicare; raise the retirement age; make prescription drugs more expensive, and attack a woman’s right to choose, I will rebuild the middle class, defend a woman’s right to reproductive freedom, and protect and defend our democracy. Six debates would set a great standard because our democracy deserves nothing less.”
LaLota fired back: “As a Manhattan resident unfamiliar with Suffolk County’s election history, John Avlon wants summer debates either because he must be heading back to Manhattan by the fall— as he usually does— or because he knows he’s down by double digits in the polls and has some major ground to make up. Either way, we’ll agree to a series of debates in line with the timing and format typical of NY-01’s elections.”
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