Brooklyn DA incumbent Charles “Joe” Hynes, who recently re-launched his reelection campaign after a stunning defeat in the Democratic primaries, is not giving up hope in reclaiming his support from Democratic primary voters and the voting blocs in the Orthodox Jewish community, as he adds to his column the trust of Brooklyn’s Republican and Conservative voters.

“It would be wrong for me not to provide an opportunity to the entire Democratic-registered voters in Brooklyn as all voters to choose who’ll be the next District Attorney for the next four years,” Mr. Hynes told Leon Goldenberg on a Saturday night Jewish radio program called ‘Community Matters’.

Addressing the overwhelming advantage any Democrat would have, in addition of having Bill de Blasio at the top of the ticket, Mr. Hynes said party affiliation would not matter in his case. “When you examine my 24-year record against the record of an opponent who – while serving for 5 years as a federal prosecutor – was never promoted to a supervisory position and never tried a case in the New York State criminal justice system, at the end of the day party will not be as important as person,” he explained.

Unlike the mayoral election, “the vote for DA — in terms of people showing up to vote — drops from a 6-1 democratic advantage to a 2-1 advantage in the DA’s race. So, I think there’s a very, very clear path to victory there,” Mr Hynes asserted.

Mr. Hynes also explained why he had changed his mind after promising to concede defeat and not advance a run as a Republican, following Ken Thompson’s victory. The low turnout on primary day and the, reportedly, hiring of former felon Clarence Norman as a prominent staffer in the Thompson’s campaign, are the two factors that played a determining role in his reassessment, Mr. Hynes noted.

“I haven’t changed,” Mr Hynes further proclaimed, appealing to his primary supporters who have already switched their support over for Ken Thompson. “There’s no religious mandate that would prevent you from now rethinking it and deciding that since I am in the race, you’ll support me,” he said. “Nothing has changed about me. I’m still the same person. I would hope that people reconsider.”

“I also happen to believe that a lot of people who’ve already endorsed Ken Thompson, when they get into the voting booth they will vote for me,” he summarized his analysis.

UPDATE I (09:22 am): James Freedland, a spokesman for the campaign of Ken Thompson, pointed to an internal poll that the Hynes campaign conducted that shows him losing to Thompson.

“In the same week that Republican Joe Hynes admitted he has zero evidence to back up the lies he continues to spread about Democrat Ken Thompson, he is now openly promoting a push poll showing him losing by double digits? Looks like the Hynes Republican reboot is positively bush league,” Freedland said in an email correspondence with YWN.

UPDATE II (03:28 pm): Responding to Ken Thompson’s spox’ counter attack, the Hynes cAMpaign emailed YWN the following statement:

“District Attorney Hynes is a lifelong democrat and always will be. He would run on any line to keep a felon convicted of corruption from influencing the DA’s office,” Hynes campaign director, Chapin Fay wrote.

“We made 380 research calls — not hundreds of thousands of push calls. However, we certainly appreciate any help in informing people that corruption is the defining issue in this race because voters concerned about maintaining the integrity of the DA’s Office overwhelmingly support Hynes,” he added.

(Jacob Kornbluh – YWN)