Ed Towns To Endorse Jason Otano

Longtime Brooklyn Congressman Ed Towns is set to formally endorse state Senate contender Jason Otano on Sunday, Towns’ chief of staff, Al Wiltshire, confirmed.

A press release sent out by Otano’s campaign also said a rally featuring Towns and other elected officials such as Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez will be held at 2 p.m. on the steps of City Hall. Wiltshire declined further comment and Otano could not be reached for comment.

Update: A reader notes that Otano dropped news of Towns’ endorsement into a fundraising invite a few days ago also.

Towns’ endorsement of Otano is not all that surprising since Otano is running against State Sen. Martin Dilan, a longtime rival of Towns, who is backed by another Towns rival, Assemblyman Vito Lopez. On the other hand, the endorsement is notable because Otano is being actively supported by the north Brooklyn political club the New Kings Democrats, which supported Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries’ successful campaign for Towns’ congressional seat.

Towns dropped out of the race for his seat this spring (after the New Kings endorsement was made) and Jeffries won in a landslide over Councilman Charles Barron in June. This endorsement also marks one of the last endorsements of Towns’ long career in Congress, though it’s unlikely to generate as much attention as his surprising decision to back Barron in the congressional race.

In other Otano news, our Aaron Short caught up with him at a fundraiser at Cubana Social in Williamsburg on Wednesday, where he raised over $5,000.

“I’ve been speaking with him every day, asking, ‘Where did you go today, who did you speak to, how many calls did you make?’” she said, addressing a crowd of about 60 supporters. “This is doable. We are going to get him elected. When we go door to door, we ask, ‘Do you know who your senator is?’ And people say, ‘No, we haven’t seen him. Who is he?””

Otano has collected over $32,000 since April and in July reported $30,000 on hand to spend on the election. Dilan reported $57,000 on hand to spend until the September primary.