Young, Harrison Square Off For Flushing Seat

Two very competitive and aggressive political organizations are backing candidates on Tuesday for the Democratic nomination for the 22nd Assembly District seat in Flushing, which became available when incumbent Assemblymember Jimmy Meng retired from the post last spring.

The political organization headed by City Councilmember John Liu is supporting Ellen Young, a member of Liu's staff, who also has the backing of the Queens Democratic organization.

Opposing Young is former Flushing Assemblymember Julia Harrison, also a former councilmember, who came out of retirement to become the candidate of the Democratic Club of Flushing.

Each club is also backing slates of candidates in the party elections, which will be decided on Tuesday.

Harrison, who turned 86 this past June, had no thought of running again when the political season started in the spring. But as Meng bowed out and there was a rush to fill the void, Harrison's club asked her to be its candidate, and she accepted.

Harrison held the Assembly seat in the 22nd AD, which is close to the downtown area, from 1983 to 1985 and the city council seat from 1986 to 2001, when term limits forced her out of office.

Ironically, it was Liu who eventually won the seat, helping to establish himself and his supporters, including Ellen Young, as a force in the area's political community. Now Young is striking out on her own to try to become the local Assembly representative.