ALBANY – Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Morelle and state Sen. Joseph Robach are among those considering a run to succeed the late Rep. Louise Slaughter in Congress.
Robach, a Greece Republican, and Morelle, an Irondequoit Democrat, both confirmed they are weighing their political options this week, though neither were ready to make any sort of formal declarations.
Morelle said the focus this week should remain on Slaughter’s three-decade congressional career and her legacy. Her funeral service is Friday.
Potential candidates, however, don't have much time to make a decision. Designating petitions have to be filed by April 12 for the June 26 primary.
“Obviously, the timing is challenging for us,” Morelle said in an interview Tuesday outside his Capitol office. “At some point over the weekend, I’m going to sit down with friends and family and make a decision. I have to make it quickly.”
Slaughter, a Fairport Democrat, held a seat for more than 30 years in the House of Representatives. She died last week after a fall had landed her in the hospital the previous week.
For years, her district included parts of the Rochester and Buffalo areas, connected by a slim line along the Lake Ontario shoreline.
Since 2012, Slaughter’s district — New York's 25th congressional district — has been situated entirely within Monroe County, including the whole city of Rochester.
Robach acknowledged hearing from people who want him to enter the race for Slaughter’s seat.
He said he has to balance his own prospects, however, with the razor-thin divide in the Senate, where Republicans maintain a one-vote majority with the help of a Democrat who sits with them.
If Republicans were to lose his state Senate seat he was first elected to in 2002, it could help flip control to Democrats. All 213 seat state legislative seats are on the ballot this year.
“It’s a very unique time and process, so like anything else you want to look at everything on the table and make an intelligent decision and have a good reason why,” Robach said Tuesday.
Among those who had previously entered the race were James Maxwell, chief of neurosurgery at Rochester General Hospital, who is seeking the Republican nomination.
On the Democratic side, political newcomer Andrew Gilchrist announced earlier this year that he would challenge Slaughter for their party’s nomination. He has been gathering signatures to get on the ballot.\
Other potential candidates are Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren and Assemblyman Harry Bronson, D-Rochester, who have not yet discussed their prospects publicly.
"(Right) now the community is focused on mourning after losing someone who was an inspiration and who fought tirelessly for the City of Rochester," Warren spokeswoman Jessica Alaimo said in an email Wednesday.
All New York congressional districts will be on the ballot this November for a full, two-year term beginning in January.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, however, will have to call a special election to fill out the remainder of Slaughter’s term, which runs through the end of the year.
He has not signaled when he will do so.
The 25th congressional district has a Democratic enrollment edge, according to state Board of Elections data.
Of the 436,883 total active registered voters in the district, 180,280 are enrolled Democrats and 121,928 enrolled Republicans.
Of the remaining active voters in the district, 104,384 are not enrolled in a party and the rest belong to a third party.
