Schumer snubs Maloney in rare primary between sitting Democrats

WASHINGTON — The foremost champion of overdraft reform in the House was snubbed by one of the top ranking members of her state's congressional delegation on Monday, with just over a week to go before New York's primary election. 

Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York endorsed the primary opponent of Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who currently serves as one of the senior-most members of the House Financial Services Committee. Maloney and Rep. Jerry Nadler will compete next week in New York's delayed Democratic primary election — a rare contest between sitting members of Congress that comes after New York's congressional maps were redrawn earlier this year. 

In a statement first reported by The New York Times, Schumer described Nadler as a "critical partner" in the House, saying that "New York has a lot of outstanding leaders, but few of them lead with the courage, conviction and brilliant legislative effectiveness of my friend, Jerry Nadler." 

Ken Cedeno/Bloomberg News

Both elected to federal office for the first time in 1992, Maloney and Nadler are titans in the House — in addition to serving on the House Financial Services Committee, Maloney chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee, while Nadler chairs the House Judiciary Committee. 

Maloney has pushed hard in recent months for Congress to take up the Overdraft Protection Act, which would introduce federal limits on how often banks can charge such account fees and require customers to opt in to overdraft programs. The bill passed out of the House Financial Services Committee along partisan lines in late July, but it remains unclear if and when the Senate will take it up.  

There are signs that support for Maloney in the 12th Congressional District of New York has flagged in recent months; while a May poll from Emerson College put Maloney 10 points ahead of Nadler, a second Emerson poll released in early August showed Nadler 9 points ahead. But the limited polling to date suggests the race could very well remain a toss-up. 

Just days before Schumer's statement was released, Nadler netted another high profile endorsement from a local institution — the Times editorial board also endorsed Nadler over Maloney over the weekend. 

Maloney has drawn headlines in recent weeks for publicly expressing doubt that President Biden will run for reelection in 2024. In a televised debate in early August, Maloney told debate moderators she didn't believe Biden would run. Later that week, speaking on CNN, she backtracked and apologized to the president. Then, on Saturday, comments she made in an Aug. 1 interview with the Times editorial board resurfaced her skepticism about Biden's 2024 run, telling the Times: "Off the record, he's not running again." (The Times editorial board told Maloney they had not agreed to speaking "off the record.")

A spokesperson for Maloney did not respond to a request for comment.