Ex-CNN anchor John Avlon announces Congress run to defeat ‘Maga minions’

The former Daily Beast editor and CNN anchor John Avlon announced his candidacy for US Congress in New York as a Democrat, seeking to flip a seat on Long Island, where Republicans saw surprising gains in the 2022 midterm elections.

In a video announcement on Wednesday, Avlon said he was running to help Democrats win back the House from Donald Trump’s “Maga minions”.

“Our democracy is in danger,” he said. “This election is not a drill. It’s up to all of us to step up and get off the sidelines.

“We need to build the broadest possible coalition to defeat Donald Trump, defend our democracy and win back the House from his Maga minions who don’t even seem interested in solving problems.”

Avlon included the incumbent congressman in the first district, the Republican Nick LaLota, among those “minions”. He charged LaLota and other Republicans with “doing whatever Trump wants, including blocking a bipartisan border security deal” – referring to a successful effort by Senate Republicans to sink a border and immigration deal earlier this month, while their House counterparts refuse to pass a foreign aid bill that does not also include a border element.

LaLota is one of a number of New York Republicans who won in 2022 in districts where Joe Biden won in the presidential race two years earlier. Those districts have become particular targets for Democrats who are seeking to take back the narrowly divided House in November.

One was successfully flipped last week when a vacant seat in the third district previously represented by George Santos – the indicted fabulist who became only the sixth member ever expelled from the House – was won by a Democrat.

Avlon said: “This district needs real leadership, not more hyper-partisanship, and I am going