Yes. I Am Running For The New York State Senate
A short announcement and an answer to a frequently asked question.
Yes. I am running against Convicted Felon Tim Mitts and State Senator James G. Skoufis for the 42nd District seat.
For now, I am doing this as a write-in candidate.
I need to speak with an election lawyer about the deadlines for third party ballot signatures to see if it’s doable to get on the ballot. I honestly don’t know much about how this works. I’m not a politician. I’m an investigative journalist and care giver for three disabled adults.
The other concern is, as many of you know, my car was wrecked last month, and being a investigative journalist means I’m at the financial level of someone using rope for a belt to keep their pants on.
So, hiring canvassers, which I need to do, is impossible at the moment.
For that reason, if I find out this is doable to get on the ballot, I’ll be setting up some kind of election entity and taking contributions.
Unlike both Mr. Skoufis and Mr. Mitts, I refuse to take any contribution over $35, and I refuse to take any contribution from LLCs, PACs, real estate developers, and Trump supporting Republican Billionaires like John A. Catsimatidis. Mr. Skoufis accepted $11,000 from Mr. Castimatidis in 2022:
My entire platform is very simple. You can put it on a simple, black and white mailer. One that reads as follows:
Hi. I’m BJ Mendelson. I believe Healthcare is a Human Right.
You should not have to choose between buying groceries or medication.
I will spend every day fighting on your behalf for the passage of the New York Health Act
This legislation will provide insurance to every New Yorker.
And if you already have Medicare, you get to keep Medicare.
Better yet: The New York Health Act will also cover everything Medicare does not.
Like your hearing aids, vision, and dental care.
Our State Senator, James G. Skoufis, REFUSES to support this bill.
He says it’s too expensive.
He’s wrong.
YOU pay only what you can afford each month. Directly to New York State.
Not to a greedy corporation like United Healthcare.
The New York Health Act will also save our state billions once implemented.
So, how can we pay for the New York Health Act?
By doing what State Senator Skoufis refuses to do:
-Passing a one-time tax on billionaires and …
- Increasing taxes on large corporations.
Forcing everyone to suffer, because our State Senator doesn’t want to tax the wealthy is a choice.
We can make a better one.
Write in BJ Mendelson as your choice for New York State Senator.
I am currently writing a very long column that should be out by Friday at the latest. This was just a short post to tide you over.
Since I believe in full transparency, I’ll also be posting about what’s going on with the campaign as it rolls along.
My goal isn’t to win.
My goal is to make sure the New York Health Act gets passed.
If you have a State Senate or Assembly race happening, you should absolutely make sure each of them supports the New York Health Act. If they don’t, you shouldn’t vote for them this Fall.
Ok. More soon.