Osina leads fundraising with month to go before election

Queens 23rd Assembly District candidates Pesach Osina and Thomas Sullivan are raising money as the race goes into the home stretch.  Photos via campaigns

By Ryan Schwach

Queens is now less than a month away from the November general election, and candidates are building war chests for the home stretch.

In the borough's most competitive race, Democrat Pesach Osina is outraising his Republican opponent Tom Sullivan in the contest for Southeast Queens’ 23rd Assembly District.

Osina, who won a primary in June, raised twice what Sullivan did in the last fundraising period.

The Democrat raised just shy of $45,000, while Sullivan raised over $25,000.

Both still have significant funds in the bank. Osina has $143,000 for the final month of the election, and Sullivan has around $104,000.

Osina is supported by retiring incumbent Stacey Pheffer Amato, the Democratic Party, and its allies. His highest donations have come from political PACs, including the New York Real Estate Board, which gave him $5,000. He also received donations from the carpenters’ union and the powerful Hotel Trades Council Committee. Both donated $3,000 to Osina’s campaign.

Osina, a Council staffer, has also received significant donations from City Councilmember Simcha Felder and Alice Tisch of the Tisch family. Progressive Councilmembers Lincoln Restler and Sandy Nurse have also given to the campaign.

Despite the donations from powerful groups and New Yorkers, Osina said he is running a “grassroots” effort.

“The coalition that I built during the primary is going to get me over to the victory now in the general,” Osina told the Eagle on Monday. “We are stronger than ever.”

Osina won the primary in June over local attorney Mike Scala.

Scala won the majority of electoral districts in the Rockaway-centered district, but ultimately fell short thanks to Osina’s dominant showing in the Orthodox Jewish community in Far Rockaway.

Sullivan, who is making his third attempt to represent the 23rd District, received mostly smaller donations from family members and local Republicans.

But the retired Army colonel has substantially outspent his Democrat opponent by more than $100,000.

Sullivan has spent large sums of money on political consulting.

Queens candidates are raising money with less than a month to go before Election Day.  Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach

He has paid around $56,000 to McShane LLC, a conservative political consulting company based in Las Vegas. In total, Sullivan’s spending on consulting and communications accounts for about 70 percent of his overall expenditures.

Sullivan told the Eagle he is focused on meeting local voters.

“Not everybody gets mail or follows textbooks or Facebook,” he said. “But when they see you on the corner, it matters. It's time consuming, and not everybody is interested. But the people that engage you are wonderful.”

Other Queens races

District 23 is home to the only truly competitive race between a Republican and a Democrat this November, but that has not stopped money from being raised elsewhere in the borough.

In Assembly District 30, Republican Brandon Castro has more money in the bank than his opponent, Patrick Martinez, who is fresh off a bruising Democratic primary he won by only seven votes after a recount.

Martinez has raised more than Castro, pulling in $12,000 in the last period to Castro’s $2,300. However, Castro still holds about $47,000 in the bank, and Martinez is sitting with under $10,000.

The only other Queens contest where both candidates filed disclosures this week was Senate District 11. In that race, Republican Pamela Michos is challenging longtime Democratic incumbent Toby Ann Stavisky.

Stavisky outraised Michos considerably in the last period, pulling in around $60,000 to Michos’ $16,000. Michos still holds around $88,000 in the bank behind Stavisky’s $99,000.

Two of Queens’ insurgent Democratic Socialist candidates, David Orkin and Aber Kawas, both filed disclosures but their respective Republican opponents, Ruben Cruz and Han-Khon To, did not.

Orkin filed about $11,700 in donations, and Kawas filed about $20,500.

Early voting begins this month on Oct. 24 and runs up until election day on Nov. 3.