Monday, June 27, 2022

And Then There Were Two

This morning, Ọṣun Zotique announced on Instagram the end of their campaign for Congress.


The statement reads:
Mrs. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter channeled "you won't break my soul," and she's right. Because my soul belongs to God, and she has even bigger plans than #ny19 for me this year. And so I am ending my candidacy, effective 06/30. Onward, siblings. Onward. Stay tuned. The sun is rising, not setting, on this democracy.
The Instagram statement does not provide any reason for ending the campaign. A press release from Zotique received by Gossips subsequent to the post on Instagram alludes to the reason:
I would like to take this opportunity to say that NYS ELN § 6 is not only obsolete, it is also ableist and dangerous. In my experience gathering over 1,000 designating petition signatures, I realized that it is very challenging to make your way onto a ballot in this state. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In a world of integrated blockchain and crypto, however [an issue where Mr. Molinaro and I agree], there’s no reason we couldn’t also do this securely online in the MyNY.gov portal. Running wet-ink petitions is exhausting physically and impossible for some. And furthermore, it forces us to carry around sensitive voter information which could get misplaced or destroyed by rain. New Yorkers need reform on Section 6, full stop.
A search of the New York State Board of Elections website yields an explanation of what happened to cause Zotique to end their campaign. The designating petitions for a candidate in the August primary for NY19 Congressional District needed to contain a total of 1,062 valid signatures to meet the minimum threshold. Zotique's petitions contained 1,063, just one more than the minimum. For a variety of reasons, there were objections to 294 of the signatures. Whether or not all the objections were determined to have merit, Zotique had only one signature to spare, so if only two signatures were determined to be invalid, there would be an insufficient number for Zotique to get on the ballot. 

Zotique's press release concludes:
I urge everyone to stay tuned to the important issues we had the opportunity to elevate via my website at www.osunformy.com. Please hold my new friends Jamie and Josh to those same values, which we mostly all share.
I remain New York's yoga servant; school district advisor; PhD candidate in creativity education; OutHudson LGBTQIA+ Pride Executive Director; and, a steadfast neighbor & friend. Maybe one day soon I will get the chance to be your elected public servant again.

7 comments:

  1. A dilettante at best, fool at worst. Word is more than 10% of the signatures on Osun's ballot were challenged and found lacking; given that only the bare numeric number of signatures could be gathered, the candidacy failed. This type of tomfoolery does nothing but prove that Osun isn't fit for public office. Gender equity, gender rights -- all important issues. And all not advanced at all by Osun's abortive and misguided attempt. You behave like a joke and you'll often be perceived as a joke.

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    1. Abortive maybe. Misguided no. Josh came to CD19 from CD22 with a complete campaign apparatus. Jamie came to CD19 from a District 41 race with her team as well. Both with endorsements from the Working Families Party. Respectfully, you'd be hard-pressed to see any other candidate who could create a team, and, collect 1063 signatures in ~2 weeks, all during the chaos of a supreme court redistricting and sudden vacancy by a popular leader. As Josh Riley said: "I want to thank Osun on their historic candidacy, decency, and advocacy." And as Jamie Cheney said: "Osun is such an important voice for NY19 and I applaud them for bringing attention to issues that are so often ignored. I know Osun, and they will not rest in their fight for equal rights for all."
      Yet again, the joke is on anyone who underestimates myself and [more importantly] our incoming wave of LGBTQIA+ and millennial leadership. I suggest that any further questions about my fitness for elected office be directed to my colleagues over in the Riley and Cheney campaigns. Cheers.

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  2. I'm thinking his next endeavor will be to start a cult. If you look at his picture long enough, you just might believe what he is putting down. Creepy.

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  3. Osun thank you for running. Special elections leave candidates little time to organize; in this instance, a month or so between Delgado vacating the seat and the petition deadline. Not many would've had the guts, vision and work ethic to run. Critique comes with the territory but we trust it won't get you down. You are a bright light.

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  4. And what exactly were "their" qualifications to be a congressional representative aside from being a fan of Beyonce and OutHudson LGBTQIA+ Pride Executive Director?

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  5. I am incredibly proud of my team, and of all of us – for giving someone like me the opportunity to step up as as our nation's first transgender nonbinary candidate to one of the highest offices in this land. Formerly disaffected people, who have felt unseen and unrepresented their whole lives-until now- have come out and supported us.

    With an LGBTQIA+ youth attempted suicide rate of 50% last year, I run because I need kids to know that it’s safe to be who they are.

    And if it’s not, then grownups, just like them, are in charge, and will fight like hell on their behalf.

    I am not finished caring about this newly-created district. And I am certainly not finished running for elected offices.

    Please continue to stay tuned to my work, and let’s move onward in our revolution, together! Thank you everybody!

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