The New York Times is reporting tonight that those of us who live in the New York State 13th Senate District will have a new representative. Democratic Assemblymember José Peralta handily beat former Senator Hiram Monserrate, who ran on an independent line, and Robert Beltrani who ran on the Republican line.
With 94% of the vote, the tally was Peralta with 66%, Monserrate with 27% and Beltrani with 7%.
Coming home tonight, I already had received the news that Peralta had won big tonight. So when I saw this particular piece of literature, it didn't upset me as much as it would have if I had seen it before the election. As a parting shot, though, here is how low Monserrate was willing to go in using marriage equality as a wedge issue.
Google "The Muslim-American Coalition for Morality" and what do you get? Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada. No helpful contact phone number or e-mail on the flyer, no names mention as to who exactly is "The Muslim-American Coalition for Morality".
There IS a large Muslim population in the borough and there are some fringe Muslim groups that peacefully protest the annual Queens LGBT Pride Parade but, as large an LGBT presence in this district, I would say that the norm is mutual respect between cultures.
Hm, i wonder what that means. I'm sure it has nothing to do with the Monserrate campaign trying to play into Muslim stereotypes as a last ditch effort to gain votes. Surely not. I mean, there MUST be a Queens-based "Muslim-American Coalition for Morality" somewhere even if they are not Google-search-friendly. Right?
UPDATE: 100% of the vote in, according to NY1. Only 14,988 people voted. Peralta received 9,803 (65.41%), Monserrate got 4,098 (27.34%) and Beltrani got 1,087 (7.25%).
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