New York's House Democrat primary in the 10th District is a bloated race with 15 candidates and has former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio going after MSNBC for its free air time given to rival Dan Goldman.
Goldman, who was the chief House Democrat lawyer in the first partisan impeachment trial and had been a paid legal analyst for the network, made recent appearances with campaign posters, de Blasio complained to MSNBC in a letter, the New York Post reported.
"Mr. Goldman is officially a candidate for Congress in the newly created 10th Congressional District in New York City," de Blasio wrote to MSNBC President Rashida Jones. "And as a declared candidate for this seat, he has appeared on MSNBC at least four times, sometimes with advertisements for his campaign in the background shot of these media hits."
Goldman, going on MSNBC to talk about the anti-Trump Jan. 6 hearings, appeared with "Dan Goldman for Congress" posters behind him, the Post reported.
"While I deeply respect the expertise of Mr. Goldman, these appearances … are not meant to serve as free advertising for his Congressional campaign," de Blasio said in the letter.
De Blasio added it was "unfair" Goldman is getting paid to promote his campaign on the network.
"These appearances provide him with an unfair competitive advantage against the 14 other candidates in the race and could even be construed as an in-kind donation to Mr. Goldman's campaign," de Blasio's letter continued. In it he called for the network to "cease Daniel Goldman's appearances on MSNBC through the duration of this campaign to ensure nothing of value is being provided by MSNBC to Mr. Goldman or his campaign."
The former mayor noted other MSNBC analysts who ran for office, including Maya Wiley for mayor and Mimi Rocah for Westchester district attorney, "rightly removed themselves" during their campaigns.
MSNBC confirmed to the Post that Goldman is no longer a paid legal analyst.
The Post noted de Blasio was given free air time during his campaign on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," including to make his official announcement of his intentions to run May 20.
"I wanted to come here — a place that I cherish — and with you who have been such good friends," de Blasio told co-hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski.
Responding to de Blasio complaints, Goldman campaign spokesman Richard Fife returned fire: "It is not Dan's fault or MSNBC's that Bill de Blasio's views are not equally valued."
Rep. Mondaire Jones, D-N.Y., an incumbent from New York's old 17th District, is among the 15 candidates in the newly drawn, high-profile 10th District race. The district covers lower Manhattan and a northwest portion of Brooklyn.
The Democrat primary in New York is Aug. 23 and the seat is likely to remain blue in the November general election.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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