With Jersey City Ward C runoff tomorrow, Bing says ‘our worst enemy is complacency’

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With the Jersey City Ward C runoff election tomorrow, challenger Kevin Bing says “our worst enemy is complacency” ahead of the polls opening.

“We’re feeling really, really good for Tuesday: I think we’re gonna be able to get over the finish line,” Bing said in a sit down interview at his home on St. Paul’s Avenue.

He said his campaign has a ton of momentum: doubling their number of volunteers within 24 hours after the November 2nd election, knocking on over 20,000 doors, and out fundraising Councilman Rich Boggiano as of 11 days out from the race, according to campaign finance reports.

Bing finished in second place last month, just ahead of Tom Zuppa, who has since come out in support of Boggiano. He doesn’t feel like this move will have a big impact on the end result Tuesday.

“It’s pretty clear that November 2nd was a referendum for change. I’m going up against a two-term incumbent that had the backing of the mayor and the city machine, and despite that, he was not able to get over that 50 percent goal line on November 2nd,” he said.

“So it’s clear that Ward C is ready for change. In fact, we’ve been looking at the stats, even though the total turnout number was similar four years ago, a lot of the voters that came out November 2nd, 2021 had never voted in a municipal before.”

Boggiano, who has said “this election is a referendum on whether residents in Ward C want more bike lanes or more parking spots,” is 2-0 in runoff races, winning as an independent in both 2013 and 2017.

While Bing acknowledged that Boggiano is a formidable opponent, he scoffed at the notion that this is a one-issue race, citing his affordable housing and quality of life plans as clear examples of unrelated matters Journal Square and Heights residents are concerned about.

“It’s clear he doesn’t have a track record to run on, so he’s just trying to trash me in public,” the candidate added.

Throughout the course of the five-week campaign, Bing has seen support from several notable progressives outside of Ward C including Ward E Councilman James Solomon, Ward F Councilman-elect Frank “Educational” Gilmore, recent competitive Ward B challenger Joel Brooks, and District 10 congressional candidate Imani Oakley.

Oakley campaigned with Bing on Friday and The New York Post published a story the next day that said she was “fooled by fake rabbi’s parody Twitter account.”

Her campaign had been communicating with Rabbi Linda Goldstein, the self-proclaimed “chief rabbi” of Gaza, about the possibility of a hosting a virtual fundraiser. She indicated that they were vetting the source and that’s why an event never came together.

Bing indicated that he only skimmed the NYP article and therefore wasn’t clear on all the details, but stated that tons of random emails come through during the course of a campaign and he doesn’t feel she was taken for a fool on this one.

“It looks like there was somebody who was trying to dupe her, it doesn’t sound like they were successful, and so I give her credit for that,” continuing that all successful campaigns revolve around issues and avoiding distractions.

As far as tomorrow goes, he said he’s hoping that the trend of low turnout December elections does not continue.

“What I’m asking is all voters [to come out]: our worst enemy is complacency. People who stay home, who say ‘this election isn’t important’ or you know ‘there’s no candidate I can really get behind’ or ‘I don’t want to do the research,'” Bing began.

“What I’m asking everybody whose watching this it to do the work, take a look at my website, bingforjc.com, make a choice on December 7th: come out and vote.”

The polls are open from 6 a.m until 8 p.m. in Ward C tomorrow.

 


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