Dear Editor,
In the Democratic primary for Congress, I’m voting for Beth Davidson because I make decisions based on evidence. I want a representative who I know will put our local communities and the issues we care about first. I first met Beth a couple of years ago, before she was running for Congress, at a press conference calling out Mike Lawler for voting to cut funding for community water infrastructure. I don’t have to wonder what Beth actually believes in, because I have seen her in action working to keep our water safe, stop fossil fuel interests from increasing their footprint in our area, and more. Apart from the work I have witnessed firsthand, Beth also has a long and verifiable record of work and activism on issues I care deeply about, such as reproductive freedom and passing sensible gun laws.
I also don’t have to wonder if Beth can win an election, because she’s done it multiple times. I’ve paid close attention to this race, and I can see why Beth has garnered the most in-district donors in the field. She has deep roots in NY-17 and consistently shows up for her neighbors, whether it’s keeping school kids fed during the pandemic or securing $2 million in emergency funding for food pantries when the Trump administration tried to starve SNAP recipients last fall.
Some ado is being made about conservative interests meddling in our primary to amplify criticisms of Beth’s main opponent, Cait Conley. That’s regrettable, but we still need to evaluate the substance of these critiques. Cait Conley’s ties to AI companies are real and genuinely concerning, calling into question if she would be sufficiently independent in her judgment if called upon to regulate them. I’m extremely worried about the expansion of surveillance using technology we know to be error-prone. Even if we could eliminate error entirely (unlikely), AI is terrible for the environment and also likely to be ruinously expensive once we start paying what it actually costs to run these applications. Do we think the dark money donors paying millions for Cait Conley’s introduction to this district will be willing to pay more in taxes to cover the dramatic increases in our already enormous defense budgets? Can we call them and ask?
All that said, any of the candidates running for the Democratic nomination would be a massive improvement over the incumbent, whose slavish devotion to President Trump has made life more expensive and dangerous for all of us. I’m confident a Democrat will win the general election, especially given this political environment, and I will be voting for whoever we put up against Mike Lawler. But in the primary, while I still have a choice, Beth Davidson is my choice. She has my vote because she has demonstrated over and over again that she can run, win, and legislate on issues the majority of us support.
Please join me in voting for our local champion! Early voting runs from June 13-June 21; primary election day is Tuesday, June 23rd.
Sincerely,
Acacia Mauriello
Ossining, NY
