On November 3, 2020, the Conservative Party won the vote for New York Assemblymember, 48th district. There was only one candidate listed on the ballot, Simcha Eichenstein. He was the nominee of the Democratic Party and the Conservative Party. It is very common in New York for minor party candidates to jointly nominate major party nominees. Eicnehstein is a Democrat.
But, the Conservative Party vote was higher in this race than the Democratic vote. Eichenstein polled 13,411 votes on the Conservative line and 12,570 on the Democratic line. This is the first time in the Conservative Party’s history that it had polled a larger vote than any other party in the same race (in any election for federal or state office), except in 1970, when its vote in the U.S. Senate race for James Buckley was higher than the vote for any other party. Buckley was a registered Republican and he won the race. Generally, the 1970 U.S. Senate election is considered a win for the Conservative Party, because its vote was higher than that for any other party. So, by the same logic, it seems that the 2020 race for Assembly, 48th district, was also a Conservative Party win.
There have been members of the U.S. House who were enrolled Conservative Party members, but no one ever listed those instances as “wins” for the Conservative Party, because in all those races, the Republican vote was substantially higher than the Conservative Party vote.
No news outlet seems to have reported that the Conservative Party vote in the 48th district was the highest of any party’s vote.
Why would the Conservative party nominate a Democrat?
Yes, interested in where Eisenstein is at ideologically. Is he economically left-leaning, socially right-leaning, like the American Solidarity Party.
Might he be one of those rare pro-life, conservative Democrats?
ONE MORE GERRYMANDER DISTRICT IN CON-FUSION NY.
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PR IN ALL LEGIS BODIES.
He is Hasidic and conservative on social issues.
Simcha Eichenstein’s predecessor as Assemblyman from this district was Dov Hikind, a conservative Democrat who almost always supported Republican candidates for President and Governor. As Richard noted, Mr Eichenstein is Hasidic and conservative on social issues, as was Dov Hikind.
Hasidic as in vinegar?
I thought it was some kind of pickle from up north.
In 2016, Hivkind received more Republican votes than Democratic votes. He had been nominated by write-in ballots. New York always permits write-ins, but ordinarily does not hold a primary if there is 0 or 1 candidates, but a petition for Opportunity To Ballot (OTB) may be filed. “Ballot” is a verb, so the petitioners are seeking a chance to be able to vote in a primary for that office.
In 2018 and 2020 Eichenstein was severally (not jointly) nominated by both Democrats and Conservatives. Relatively few signatures were required to qualify as a Conservative, since it is based on party registration in the district. There are about 32K Democrats and 400 Conservatives. To run as a Conservative, a registered Democrat needs the permission of the party bosses. The candidate must also accept the nomination.
So does this mean that he will represent the Conservatives, or as a Democrat?
He probably wants to remain in the Democratic caucus to enjoy the additional power that members of the majority caucus exercise. Plus he is a registered Democrat.
Buckley was a registered Republican but he ran against a Republican in the general which was a 3-way. So he was a Conservative that defeated an individual for the Republicans and an individual for the Democrats.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_L._Buckley
wiki – lost in 1976 – part of 1972-1974 Nixon Watergate felonies carryover.
Conservatives should never be for Democrats, only Republicans.