Election 2014

Seaford’s Peter King faces pair for House seat

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Seaford’s longtime congressman, Peter King, is looking to return to Washington next year, seeking his 12th term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Republican will face two challengers on the Nov. 4 ballot. Patricia Maher is running on the Democratic ticket, and William Stevenson is on the Green Party line.

This will be King’s second campaign for the seat in New York’s 2nd Congressional District. He previously represented the 3rd District, but was moved following redistricting in 2012, when Long Island lost a representative. His redrawn district now begins in Seaford and stretches east along the South Shore.

King, 70, said that in the two previous geographical configurations of his district, he represented middle- and upper-class areas. Now he has some lower-income communities. “It’s almost like two separate worlds as far as the issues,” he said.

There are several issues King wants to address if he is re-elected, but one tops his list. As a member of the House Homeland Security Committee and as chairman of the Subcommittee on Counterterrorism and Intelligence, he wants to ensure that the U.S. is prepared for any terrorism threats. Funding for training and equipment for police departments is crucial, he explained.

Maher, 48, who unsuccessfully ran for a seat on the Nassau County Legislature in 2011, is a marketing and branding executive and a licensed real estate agent who has also worked in the nonprofit sector, educating the public about seizure disorders. As a member of the National Professional Women’s Association, she has long focused on workplace equality.

“I have always been aware of pay disparities that affect women and others,” she said. “I was shocked and dismayed when my opponent voted against the Fair Pay Equity Act in 2009. I wondered why [King] wanted to be a member of Congress, since he didn’t think that half of his constituents should receive fair pay.”

Maher noted that women account for only 13 percent of Congress, a number she would like to see increase. The issues that are most important to her in this election, she said, are the economy and jobs. Residents of the district, she said, are worried about saving for retirement.

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