A new challenger for District 30’s seat on the City Council arose this summer. The candidate’s write-in campaign has generated buzz in Ridgewood, and stickers promoting Leo can be found smattered across light posts and subway stations, and his name whispered between residents at their speakeasies and political rallies: Leo Namuche.
The catch: if he wins, Namuche would never take his seat on the council… for he is a cat — a 9-year-old cinnamon swirl tabby, to be exact, born on the very streets of Ridgewood, the neighborhood he’s running to represent.
Raquel Namuche Pacheco, a member of the Ridgewood Tenants Association with an active voice in local politics, began the write-in campaign over the summer after Democrat Candidate Phil Wong won the primary by 300 votes, narrowly edging out Paul Pogozelski. Both Wong and the Republican candidate, Alicia Vaichunas, currently work for City Council Member Robert Holden as budget director and deputy chief of staff, respectively.
“None of the candidates in the recent Democratic primary offered real solutions to improving the material conditions of people in the district and none of them worked hard enough to turn out underrepresented groups which have historically, in District 30, been left out of political life,” Namuche said.
Namuche’s goal is to demonstrate the “failures of conservative politics” and emphasize the “unequal representation… of City Council District 30 for decades.” The cat’s owner wants the City Council member to focus more time addressing quality of life issues, such as rising inflation and the overall cost of living.
“It’s a waste of time: vote for someone you support, I don’t really see the merit in this,” said Wong. “If you want your agenda to be on the radar of a candidate, you tell the candidate, and don’t just waste your vote.”
This year, about 3,000 more people voted in the District 30 democratic primary than in 2021, and 4,000 more than in the 2023 general election, as Holden ran uncontested.
Isaiah Vega, a Ridgewood native and canvasser for Pogozelski, mentioned Leo’s candidacy to residents while door knocking after the primary and believes Namuche has given Wong’s campaign “paws” when it comes to his neighborhood’s issues.
“I’d go up to their doors and tell them to vote for the cat, and they’d be laughing, but they said they’d do it,” Vega said. “The idea has caught on really rapidly.”
Vega appreciated Pogozelski’s platform of adding more public trash cans and funding local arts programs, and wants Wong to incorporate some of the ideas into his own to better connect with Ridgewood voters. New pamphlets distributed by Wong’s campaign highlight how he will protect immigrant rights, find more affordable housing options, and even get Ridgewood its own zip code.
Vega said the “pivot” should help Wong differentiate himself from his competition amongst the liberal base in Ridgewood that voted in large numbers for the progressive mayoral candidate, Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, last June.
“When you have two candidates who have the same endorsements and work in the same office, people don’t see much of a difference,” Vega said. “So they’re just going to go back to the Republican candidate.”
Both Wong’s and Vaichunas’s campaign websites feature Holden’s endorsement. But in a video posted to Instagram on Oct. 11, Holden stood beside mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa, Republican City Council Member Joann Ariola, and Vaichunas to endorse her once again.
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Early voting begins on Oct. 25, and despite the fact that no animal can hold public office, as “purr” the NYC Board of Elections, any votes the cat receives will highlight Leo’s campaign manager’s message.
“The people of District 30 have more in common than we typically like to think,” Namuche said. “But no one is bringing people together under a vision that inspires and gives people something to look forward to.”
