U.S. Congressional District 11
The 11th Congressional District begins at the edge of downtown Brooklyn
and encompasses Eastern Parkway, Grand Army plaza, Prospect Park, Park Slope
and Crown Heights.
Representative:
Major Owens
(Dem/WF)
Challengers:
Sol Lieberman (Con)
Lorraine Stevens (Ind)
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News from the Campaign Trail:
09/04/04
New York Times Endorsement: The primary contest for the 11th Congressional
District seat, which covers a large swath of Brooklyn from Brownsville to
Park Slope, has become a heated one, thanks largely to the announcement by
the Democratic incumbent, Representative Major R. Owens, that this would be
his last race. Instead of a solitary victory lap, he faces a strong
challenge from two City Council members, both of them his former protˇgˇes.
The race has drawn comparison to King Lear, but a more apt description might
be "all in the family." Mr. Owens's competitors, Tracy L. Boyland and Yvette
D. Clarke, both followed their parents into public office. The challengers
seem to fear that if Mr. Owens wins the nomination, he might step aside to
allow his son to slide into his seat. Such tactics are certainly not unheard
of in New York City politics, but the congressman has said he will do no
such thing. No matter, the spirited contest is under way. Ms. Clarke's
mother, Una, ran against Mr. Owens in 2000 and lost. Now, Una Clarke is
serving as her daughter's campaign treasurer. That could be seen as an odd
choice, considering that Una Clarke was found to have overspent in one of
her own campaigns and was ordered to pay penalties of nearly $50,000. Ms.
Boyland, meanwhile, is having to answer questions from campaign finance
officials about contributions to her own campaign treasury, which has been
overseen by a friend. In his time in Congress, Mr. Owens has not been
flashy, and the district could use more energetic representation. But he has
been a vocal champion of education issues and has been active in issues
relating to the Caribbean. He chaired a Congressional task force on
restoring democracy to Haiti and led the recent effort to allow citizens of
Montserrat continued asylum in the United States because of volcanic
eruptions at home. Nostalgia would certainly not keep us from endorsing one
of Mr. Owens's opponents this year, but neither of his ambitious challengers
has exhibited the kind of experience and judgment that the district deserves
in its Congressional representative. If either Ms. Clarke or Ms. Boyland was
elected, she would very possibly have a lock on the district for decades to
come. Brooklyn would be better served if voters waited two years to see if
better options come along. In this contest, we endorse Congressman Owens.
(NY Times)
8/23/04
"Tracy L. Boyland has been chosen as one of the up and rising leaders for
the future by the New York Times," boasts a full-color piece of literature
distributed six weeks before Boyland's Democratic primary showdown with Rep.
Major Owens. We went searching for such a reference in the Times. We didn't
exactly find it. Instead, there was this, from the paper's editorial page in
1997: "Ms. Boyland, a teacher, has little record of community activity and
seems to have no thoughts about what she would do as a Council member more
specific than 'new ideas for the next millennium.'" (Courier Life
Newspapers)
08/18/04
After a career spanning three decades in elective office, United States
Representative Major R. Owens kicked off his final campaign yesterday, an
event that drew some of the biggest names in Brooklyn to support the man who
succeeded Shirley Chisholm in Congress. But Mr. Owens's final campaign has
turned into the furthest thing from an effortless political valedictory for
the congressman. By announcing at a news conference that this would be his
last term in Congress, he made what some Brooklyn politicians suggested was
a strategic miscalculation. He has drawn two formidable opponents who have
cast the race for the Democratic nomination as an opportunity to seize an
important leadership mantle for a new generation of politicians. The race,
to represent the Congressional district that stretches from Brownsville to
Park Slope, also exposes a tangled political and familial landscape, where
the children of Brooklyn officials are eager to emerge from their parents'
shadows. One challenger is City Councilwoman Tracy L. Boyland, 36, the
daughter of William F. Boyland Sr., a former longtime assemblyman. The other
is Yvette D. Clarke, 39, the daughter of the former City Councilwoman Una
Clarke, who opposed Mr. Owens two years ago. And serving as a subplot is
rampant speculation that Mr. Owens would somehow win the nomination and
withdraw from the race to engineer a succession by his son, Chris Owens, 45,
who is the congressman's campaign manager and who has made clear his
interest in succeeding his father. Both men have since denied any such
intention. But the race has nonetheless taken off. And it has been
contentious. (NY Times)
07/23/04
Rumor turned to reality yesterday afternoon on the steps of City Hall as
Councilwoman Yvette Clarke announced she will challenge longtime Central
Brooklyn Congressman Major Owens for his 11th District seat. (Daily News)
07/23/04
Yvette Clarke now becomes the second member of the City Council to oppose
Mr. Owens, a 22-year incumbent who announced five months ago that this
year's run for re-election would be his last, and that if re-elected, he
would retire at the end of his term in 2006. Last week, Tracy L. Boyland, a
councilwoman who is part of a politically active family in Brooklyn,
announced her candidacy for the Congressional seat. (NY Times)
07/14/04
Tracy Boyland has announced that she will challenge Rep. Major Owens in the
Democratic primary for his 11th congressional District seat in Brooklyn.
Boyland, who for the past six years has represented Ocean Hill-Brownsville,
East Flatbush and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the Council, said it was
time for the five-term incumbent to retire. "There are many people who do
not believe in change, but my message to them is as follows: Change is
inevitable in our society," Boyland said Monday on the steps of City Hall,
where she was joined by about 200 supporters. (Daily News)
03/29/04
One-third of the 51 members of the City Council haven't gotten a single bill
passed in more than two years, a Post survey has found. An examination of
the legislative records shows the members collectively introduced 818 bills
and passed 134 laws - a 13 percent success rate - and that's including
street-name changes. They also overrode 15 of Mayor Bloomberg's vetoes.
Yet 16 members could not get a bill passed. Two members - Brooklyn Democrats
Tracy Boyland and Dominic Recchia - have introduced just one bill each since
Jan. 1, 2002. Neither was enacted into law. (NY Post)
02/04/04
City Councilwoman Yvette Clarke said that she was running for the Congressional seat of Rep. Major Owens this year. But Councilwoman Tracy Boyland, who represents parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Ocean Hill-Brownsville, said that she, too, was planning to run for the seat. Another Democrat, Assemblyman Nick Perry, said he was planning on a 2006 campaign, but was prepared to run this year if political events changed. What has fueled much of the interest in Owens's seat is rampant speculation among Brooklyn Democrats that he might obtain the Democratic nomination, then decline it, allowing his son, Chris Owens, to become the Democratic nominee. The younger Owens is managing his father's re-election campaign and said there was no plan for a family succession before the 2006 campaign. (New York Times)