Petition Circulates for Koppell to Challenge Klein

A group of 34th state Senate District residents is circulating an online petition to convince former Bronx City Councilman Oliver Koppell to run for Senate Co-leader Jeffrey Klein’s seat this fall.

As of Sunday morning, the petition had nearly 1,300 signatures, including signatories from the Bronx, Brooklyn and places far outside of New York City like Monroe and Niagara counties. Koppell has said he is considering challenging Klein this fall in a Democratic primary and has released a series of statements this legislative session lambasting the majority coalition’s actions.

The petition blasts Klein’s coalition with the Senate’s Republican conference and calls on Koppell to run against Klein to “give progressive New Yorkers back the State Senate.”

However, a Klein spokesperson pointed to a lack of signatories who actually live in the district. “After looking at Oliver’s petition, we noticed that virtually all of the signatories came from everywhere except the Bronx,” the spokesperson said. Meanwhile, another petition is circulating to highlight Klein’s work and thank him. That petition had 132 signatures Sunday morning.