State Senator Gary Ackerman defeated three opponents in a special election in Queens yesterday to win the House of Representatives seat that was held by the late Benjamin Rosenthal.
Ackerman, a Democrat, will represent the Seventh Congressional District which covers central and eastern Queens. He will have almost a full two-year term as Rosenthal died on January 4 at the age of 59 at the beginning of his 11th term.
With Rosenthal’s death, the number of Jewish House members was reduced to 37. But the victory of Ackerman, who is Jewish, will bring the number of Jewish legislators back to 38. Ackerman, who is 40 years old, is a part owner of a Queens newspaper, and has been active in Jewish affairs in both the Seventh and Eighth Congressional Districts.
Rosenthal had represented the Eighth District for 20 years until the area was redistricted in accordance with population changes in the 1980 federal census. Rosenthal was the senior Jewish member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was a leading supporter of Israel in Congress.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
