David Gurfein opts to run against Kathleen Rice

Noah Manskar

Retired U.S. Marine and Manhasset native David “Bull” Gurfein of Manhasset has shifted his campaign for Congress to challenge Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-Garden City) in New York’s Fourth District.

Gurfein amended his Federal Election Commission filings March 14 to run in the southwestern Nassau County district and announced his decision on Facebook on March 19.

“We intend to run in the Fourth and we intend to win,” Gurfein said.

Leaders in the Republican, Conservative and Independence parties are backing his run and are expected to give formal endorsements within the next week, Gurfein said.

The move comes about two weeks after Republicans and Conservatives endorsed state Sen. Jack Martins (R-Old Westbury) in the race to replace Rep. Steve Israel (D-Huntington) in the Third District on the North Shore, where Gurfein lives and originally planned to run.

Running in the Fourth District will allow Gurfein to avoid a primary and gives Republicans a chance to capture two Democratic districts, he said in his Facebook announcement.

In a statement Monday, Rice campaign spokesman Coleman Lamb said the former Nassau County district attorney has proven “such an effective, independent advocate for our district” that her only challenger is coming from outside its boundaries.

“We won’t take anything for granted and Kathleen will campaign hard so that she can keep fighting for our community and Long Island in Congress,” Lamb said.

Gurfein said he is considering moving from Manhasset into the Fourth District, which includes Floral Park, Mineola and New Hyde Park.

Crossing district lines is “not some radical move,” Gurfein said, adding that he spent summers at Jones Beach and was based in Garden City for his first Marine Corps assignment.

“If I was going into Mississippi, that would be something different,” he said. “This is Nassau County, where I was born and raised.”

Gurfein will now run against an incumbent in the Fourth District rather than seek an open seat in the Third.

That doesn’t deter him, he said, because he was planning to challenge Israel as an incumbent when he first formed his campaign in the fall.

“People are excited to have a vet who understands service-oriented leadership and we’re sensing tremendous backing wherever we go,” Gurfein said.

The National Republican Congressional Committee is behind Gurfein’s move, he said, and has maintained his status as a promising “Young Gun” candidate.

Gurfein said he is attracting more attention from larger donors now that he will not have to run a primary. His campaign has close to $300,000 in its war chest so far, he said.

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