On Monday, Feb. 10, a New Paltz resident has announced his second campaign for New York’s 19th congressional district against incumbent Antonio Delgado, D-Rhinebeck.
Steven Greenfield will be running once again as a member of the Green Party, after losing the Nov. 6, 2018 election. Greenfield lost to Delgado by 143,560 votes. Overall, he came in third out of four in the election, beating out independent candidate Diane Neal by 1,478.
Since the 2012 redistricting, the 19th congressional district comprises of Columbia, Delaware, Greene, Otsego, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster county.
“I’m a good candidate because by not being a Democrat or Republican, I have no vested interest in the success of the institutions perpetrating all this fraud upon the overwhelming majority of the public,” Greenfield said.
Greenfield decided to run once again for two reasons, the first being what Greenfield describes as “the terrible voting and advocacy records of Antonio Delgado in his first term.” He mentioned that Delgado provided PresidentDonald Trump with funding for a Space Force and seven active wars, voted for the expansion of ICE and refused to sign on in support of climate-mitigating legislation.
The second reason is that the 19th District Republicans are in “disarray about what they want out of their candidacy,” raising the potential for a viable three-way race, rather than the typical two-party dynamic that third party candidates commonly face.
Greenfield is 58 years old and graduated from Columbia University with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He has lived in New Paltz for 19 years with his wife and three children.
Since moving to New Paltz Greenfield has worked as a volunteer firefighter for 16 years, held an elected position on the school board and is a community member involved in a Legislative Action Committee, which are organizations that work to “monitor state legislation, educate lawmakers and protect the interests of those living and working in community associations.”
Recently, Greenfield has been involved in two local activism groups, Extinction Rebellion and Never Again Action, which focus on climate change and “closing immigrant detention camps.”
On Oct. 10, 2019, Greenfield participated in an Extinction Rebellion protest which eventually led to his arrest. The protest took place at an event called “In Conversation with Congressman Antonio Delgado” on the SUNY New Paltz campus.
Greenfield and other members of the group attended the event and interrupted Delgado by shouting about the threat of climate change and to question the congressman about not signing the Green New Deal.
Although Greenfield has since left Extinction Rebellion on Jan. 24, due to allegations of anti-Semitism within the group, he will be running against Delgado on a platform to fight climate change.
Greenfield said that through running previously in 2018, he learned that he appeals to more residents that identify as conservative compared to those who are liberal.
“I learned how angry [residents] are that nobody in power is listening to them,” Greenfield said. “I learned how to be more effective with getting all this to the attention of mainstream media. The coverage of my recent campaign announcement was of a much bigger scale and comprehensiveness than in 2018. This is going to be a very exciting election.”
