NEW YORK — Women will receive their rightful place in the Constitution if Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) is elected to another term in Congress, the candidate argued before a group of supporters Monday.
Maloney, who delayed the start of the event so her two daughters could stand alongside her, argued she is best equipped to fight for women’s rights in the House, championing her longtime cause of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment as the antidote to rights being stripped away by the Supreme Court in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“Never in my farthest ever thoughts or dreams or ideas ever thought that they would have less rights than I had at their age. … We need an ERA more than we ever have before, for our daughters, ourselves, our nieces, our granddaughters, our friends, and for all future generations,” Maloney said, gesturing to her daughters.
The ERA, which would add “an explicit guarantee of sex equality to the United States Constitution” and “protect the right to healthcare and abortion and the full range of reproductive healthcare,” is the one major policy goal Maloney has yet to achieve, with the congresswoman saying she “want[s] to go back [to Congress] to put it over the finish line” and appealing to leadership to make it happen.
“Sen. Schumer, it is time you show you are a leader for women and not voting against us. As leader of the Senate, it is time for you to schedule and find the votes for the ERA since the House has already passed it and sent it to you. Our resolution: Put the vote on the floor, Sen. Schumer,” she said.
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The ERA has met all requirements for passage, Maloney argued, saying it was ratified by three-fourths of state legislatures. Though several legislatures have since revoked their votes to ratify or pass their ratification votes after the congressional deadline, Maloney argued the ERA was due recognition as the true 28th constitutional amendment, saying that “there is no time limit on equality.”
The congresswoman obliquely referenced her primary opponent, Rep. Jerry Nadler, saying that New York women have fought “sexist systems and misogyny that continues today, as we have seen from my own campaign.”
“When women are at the table, and they’re usually not at the table, but when women are at the table where decisions are made, the menu of issues expands, [and] the agenda changes to include things that directly affect our lives, our children, our families, and our future,” she said, noting she would be the only woman representing Manhattan in Congress if elected and calling for “many more Democratic women” to be elected “to end this gender discrimination once and for all.”
Maloney has previously implied support for Nadler, who comfortably leads in the most recent polling of the race, stems from sexism, saying of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s backing of the Upper West Side congressman, “The old boys’ network is very, very close, and they support each other.”
While Nadler has leveraged his national profile as a face of the efforts to impeach former President Donald Trump, with one of his backers deeming him the “general counsel of the Resistance,” Maloney has homed in on local issues, saying her top priorities have included “the Second Avenue subway, the only subway that’s been built since” she assumed office, “the East Side Access, [which] is opening next year,” and “the beautification of our Esplanade,” a nearly 10-mile waterfront greenway on Manhattan’s Upper East Side paralleling Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive suitable for walking or biking.
“The two largest construction projects not in New York, not in New York state, but in the whole country, are in my district,” she said.
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Maloney was flanked by local groups, such as the 504 Democratic Club, a coalition of Democrats fighting for the inclusion of people with disabilities, as well as representatives of firefighters’ groups.
The T-shirts of Maloney’s volunteers and backers also alluded to a regional focus, with the last two letters of her first and last name and the “C” in “Congress” aligning to spell out “NYC.”
An aggressive congressional map signed by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul that would have locked in an expected 22-4 partisan advantage for Democrats was stricken by a series of courts, forcing Democratic lawmakers into awkward games of musical chairs under the new map, with onetime allies, including Nadler and Maloney, who previously frequently worked together to advance legislation, running against one another. The politicians have been sniping at each other ever since, with Nadler dinging Maloney for her votes in favor of the Patriot Act and the Iraq War and Maloney pushing a renewed focus on women’s rights.
“Onward to victory! Onward to ratification of the ERA! … Let’s put women in the Constitution,” she said in closing.
