It was an ordinary Tuesday when Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi learned from the New York State Assembly floor that he was no longer a Democrat.
For Mr. Hevesi, the 53-year-old scion of a well-known family in Queens Democratic politics, the news was unfathomable.
“I was thinking to myself, What did I do? Did I sign something?” Mr. Hevesi recalled last week. “And once I saw the document, I realized there’s no way.”
Mr. Hevesi soon learned that paperwork had been filed by mail to change his registration to the Working Families Party, making him ineligible for the Democratic primary in June. But the paperwork had not been filed by him.
The realization started Mr. Hevesi on a hunt to solve the mystery and exact revenge for the apparent act of political mischief.
He filed a complaint with the Queens district attorney, asking that the office begin a criminal investigation. And if investigators needed a place to start, Mr. Hevesi said he had a nominee: his rival in the Democratic primary, Jonathan Rinaldi.
Mr. Hevesi said he had good reasons for his suspicions.
Mr. Rinaldi has acknowledged inventing false endorsements from mainstream political figures, including the former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and even Mr. Hevesi himself, on his social media accounts.
He has posted altered versions of published articles that included inaccurate information, like the fabricated withdrawal of a rival candidate in a previous City Council contest. He has used artificial intelligence to create what appears to be a mock advertisement for “Rinaldi Fertility Clinic,” featuring a Black, pregnant transgender man.
Mr. Rinaldi, who ran against Mr. Hevesi two years ago as a Republican, changed his voter registration to Democrat this year, positioning himself as Mr. Hevesi’s main rival for the party’s nomination.
“He is literally the only person in New York who had the motive, not to mention the means and opportunity, to commit this criminal act,” Mr. Hevesi said, adding that he planned to also ask a court to bar Mr. Rinaldi from seeking political office.
Reached by phone on Friday, Mr. Rinaldi categorically denied the charge.
“I had no involvement in any change to any voter registration or anyone acting on my behalf,” he said, adding that his campaign was “focused on engaging voters and earning support.”
But he did not seem especially surprised either. “Every time I run, they try to arrest me,” he explained.
First, he said, there was an incident at a food pantry, when he was trying to “feed the people” and wound up charged with felony burglary. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. Then there was an arrest at a polling site in Queens.
“It’s like the only way they know how to shut me up is to try to get me arrested or put me in jail,” he said. “It’s happened over and over and over again.”
Mr. Hevesi has since changed back his registration. “I am, and have always been a Democrat,” he said, adding: “I look forward to running for re-election as a Democrat.”
The incident nonetheless raised questions about the ease in which someone’s political party could be altered. Under state law, no identification is required to file or change voter registration.
The paperwork filed by mail with the Queens Board of Elections, which was shared with The New York Times, seemed to bear Mr. Hevesi’s signature. But it was also littered with errors: It reported that Mr. Hevesi had no driver’s license or Social Security number. It was missing a phone number and email address. Nonetheless, it had been accepted.
Vincent M. Ignizio, a spokesman for the New York City Board of Elections, said in a statement that “any attempt to exploit this provision by submitting false or fraudulent information” was a crime.
“We take these matters extremely seriously, and will refer any findings of illegal conduct to the district attorney’s office immediately,” he added.
The Queens district attorney declined to comment.
This would not be the first time Mr. Hevesi and Mr. Rinaldi have tangled. A debate once devolved into a shouting match after Mr. Hevesi claimed that Mr. Rinaldi accused him of being a part of a criminal family — referring to his father, the former state Comptroller Alan Hevesi, who had been convicted on corruption charges relating in part to his handling of the state pension fund.
Mr. Rinaldi has also gotten into screaming matches with several City Council candidates and other public servants. Many of these dramatic moments have been filmed and posted to his social media feed, in which he is portrayed as a kind of citizen journalist out to unmask the conspiracies of the political establishment.
Mr. Rinaldi played down the notion that any of his posts were intended to deceive, saying: “My social media often uses satire, commentary and political messaging that reflects the tone of modern campaigning. None of it should be like interpreted to mislead voters.”
There may be a germ of truth behind his so-called Rinaldi Fertility Clinic: Mr. Rinaldi has been interviewed numerous times for The Daily Mail, The New York Post and Humans of New York about his status as a prodigious sperm donor. In 2022, he estimated that he had fathered as many as 18 children.
“Listen, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, right?” he said.
Grace Ashford covers New York government and politics for The Times.
The post Someone Changed His Party Registration. He Thinks He Knows Why. appeared first on New York Times.
