A D.J. played fast dance beats as attorney John Messer took the stage at the Flushing Mall this afternoon to formally announce his campaign against State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky in this year’s Democratic primary. Introducing and endorsing Mr. Messer first was Isaac Sasson, who ran against both Mr. Messer and Ms. Stavisky in 2010. This election, Mr. Messer pointed out, will be a more direct, one-on-one battle.

“The reason why she won is that we had three people in that election,” he explained at the start of his speech. “Everybody knows that when you bring more people into a race and you divide the vote, it gives an opportunity for an incumbent to win even though they don’t have a majority of the votes.”

“So the reason why we’re really excited in this election, guess how many people are going to be on the ballot?” he continued. “Two!” Read More