Domenic Recchia enters Congressional race against Grimm
As had been long expected, former Democratic Councilmember Domenic Recchia will be challenging incumbent Republican Congressmember Michael Grimm, who represents all of Staten Island and a swathe of Brooklyn from the Verrazano Bridge down through Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Bath Beach and Gravesend, and who is up for re-election in November, 2014 to represent the 11th Congressional District.
Recchia made it official at a press conference on Staten Island on Saturday, March 1 outside his mother’s home on Bancroft Avenue, and later told this paper that he believes his strong ties to Staten Island put him in a good position to take the seat from Grimm, who is running for his third term, despite the fact that since the district has included both Staten Island and portions of Brooklyn, no one from this side of the Narrows has held the seat.
With his mom, his sisters and his extended family living on Staten Island, Recchia says his ties bind him to the borough, which he has fought for, for years, even while representing Coney Island, Bensonhurst and other portions of southern Brooklyn in the City Council. “A lot of people called me the fourth councilman from Staten Island,” he noted.