Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan, the official who failed to get an indictment against a police officer in the death of Eric Garner, is a top Republican candidate to replace Rep. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., according to a report in the New York Observer.
Donovan has been lining up support behind the scenes in the Staten Island GOP to be nominated to serve out the remainder of Grimm’s term. The congressman announced his resignation Tuesday after being convicted of felony tax evasion. The resignation becomes effective Monday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo will announce a special election to fill the vacant seat. There will be no primary. Candidates will be picked by the respective party leaders.
“Dan is almost certainly in and is lining up his support,” a source close to the Staten Island Republican Party told the Observer. “He will probably emerge as the clear front-runner for the party’s support.”
Donovan was briefly in the national spotlight last month when he failed to gain an indictment against a white police officer in the death of Garner, a Staten Island man who had been allegedly selling illegal cigarettes. Garner died after being restrained in a chokehold, an incident that sparked mass city-wide anti-police protests.
Staten Island Republicans are shrugging off the controversy, the Observer reported. Grimm represented New York’s heavily conservative 11th Congressional District.
