Crowley Leaves Queens Dems to Join Major D.C. Lobbying Firm

Queens County Democratic Party chair Joe Crowley. Eagle photo by Andy Katz

By David Brand

UPDATE [7:20 p.m.]: Former U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley is stepping down as Queens County Democratic Party chairperson, party Executive Director Michael Reich told the Wall Street Journal’s Katie Honan Tuesday night.

“It was just going to be too difficult,” to serve as party chair and lobbyist, Reich said, according to Honan.

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He’s taking his talents to K Street.

Former U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley, the chair of the Queens County Democratic Party, announced Tuesday that he will join the D.C. lobbying firm Squire Patton Boggs.

“I am looking forward to continuing to work in the best interest of New Yorkers as part of this new chapter,” Crowley wrote in the an email to supporters.

He was rumored to be teaming up with former Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania to join or launch a D.C. lobbying firm, Axios reported Friday morning..

In January, Politico reported that Crowley had met with firms Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld and Hogan Lovells to discuss potential jobs.

He was also reportedly considering a role as head of the video game lobby Entertainment Software Association, according to The Intercept, which called Crowley “K Street’s biggest whale for 2019.”

Crowley, a 10-term member of Congress, was defeated by U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th Congressional District in June.