NY-10: Curiouser and Curiouser

If a few weeks ago you’d asked me what Congressional district is least likely to ever be the subject of a front-page post at Swing State Project, NY-10 may have been the answer. The Brooklyn-based African-American-majority district is the paragon of ‘safe Democratic’ at D+41 (3rd in the nation, behind only NY-15 and NY-16); it’s been represented since time immemorial (well, 1982) by Edolphus Towns.

However, there’s a competitive primary here this year, and the weirdness begins with who the challenger is: Kevin Powell, who played the role of ‘angry black guy’ on the very first season of MTV’s The Real World in 1992 (making him a ‘reality TV’ star almost a decade before that became a term). Since then, he’s been a hip-hop journalist for Vibe magazine, has written several books, and has returned to Brooklyn to be a community activist and organizer.

Powell has gotten a lot of support from local activists looking to oust the entrenched Towns (he’s doing pretty well at the fundraising game, too, ending the quarter with over 100K CoH). He has celebrity supporters on his side (including Gloria Steinem, a fan of Powell’s public repudiation of some domestic violence incidents earlier in his life). But one celebrity has gone further in extending his credibility to Powell, even hosting a fundraiser on his behalf, and it’s a pretty big celeb: Dave Chappelle.

Trouble is, Chappelle was nowhere to be found for last night’s fundraiser. The Brooklyn Paper has a good roundup of the night’s events, which turned into quite the little fiasco (follow the link for much more schadenfreude):

Earlier, Powell had urged the crowd to bear with him, suggesting that the comedian was “on his way.” But as the 700 campaign contributors grew restless and the vast press contingent started asking questions, Powell made his admission that Chappelle actually would not be appearing. He blamed travel mix-ups.

“We were on the phones non-stop with Dave’s management to get him here,” said a contrite Powell, 42, who promised that campaign donors would get into his next celebrity event for free.

Now granted, Dave Chappelle has been kind of… uh… mercurial for the last few years, but if you’re running in a D+41 district, he’s still someone you’d rather have hosting a fundraiser for you than prominent Republican African-American ex-Representative J.C. Watts, right? Well, not if you’re Edolphus Towns:

Former House Republican Conference Chairman J.C. Watts (Okla.), who now runs a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm and other businesses, is hosting a fundraiser for Rep. Edolphus Towns (D) on July 17.

The breakfast fundraiser will be held at the headquarters of JC Watts Companies in downtown D.C. Suggested contributions are $500 for individuals and $1,000 for political action committees.

Yesterday Matt Stoller had a good rundown of Towns’s transgressions, including voting for the bankruptcy bill and CAFTA. Seems like Towns (who generally has a high liberal ratings) has been able to sweep these pro-business votes under the rug… but sharing the stage with a guy who, for many years, was the only black Republican in Congress, can’t help make the constituents back home feel like he’s looking out for them first and foremost.