2018 Election Preview: 11th Congressional District of New York

Dan Donovan faces challenge, three years after wrapping-up investigation into Eric Garner’s death 
When Michael Grimm resigned from Congress after pleading guilty to tax fraud in 2014, the Republican Party coalesced around Dan Donovan, who was then the District Attorney of Richmond County. Just months earlier, Donovan had wrapped up his investigation into Eric Garner’s death without bringing any indictment—a failure that led to widespread protests and activism in New York City and across the country. But it never became an issue in this congressional campaign, and Donovan easily won in May 2015.
Fast-forward three years: Grimm mounted a comeback for his old seat, using a campaign style that was compared to Donald Trump’s. President Trump has tweeted an endorsement of Donovan. Unsurprisingly, given that Grimm congratulated Donovan for his handling of the Garner grand jury in 2014, Donovan’s actions in this case once again did not emerge as an issue within this primary. On June 26, Donovan won the GOP primary with unexpected ease.
Donovan now faces a potentially competitive general election against Democrat Max Rose, a former employee of the Brooklyn district attorney’s office whose candidacy was recently profiled in the New York Times. Rose coauthored an op-ed in Forbes last year tying his experiences in the military to his interest in criminal justice reform; the op-ed denounces the “staggering” scope of mass incarceration and obstacles to re-entry and lays out some policy proposals.

Update: Max Rose won the general election, ousting Dan Donovan.