Italian Signs, American Politics

This book analyzes intra-ethnic elections in the United States, in the circumstance of American politicians of Italian descent who ran against each other in the State of New York. This kind of race splits the ethnic group vote and neutralizes the ethnic appeal of both contenders, for neither one can use ancestry as an argument to draw votes away from the opponent. The first part examines the 2010 gubernatorial campaign between Andrew M. Cuomo and Carl P. Paladino, the highest-level intra-Italian electoral contest in contemporary times. The second part addresses the Congressional races between James Lanzetta and Vito Marcantonio in East Harlem in the 1930s, and the 1950 New York City mayoral elections, where the three major candidates-Vincent Impellitteri, Ferdinand Pecora, and Edward Corsi-were all Italian-born. The third part investigates the relationship between social demographics and the success of Italian American politicians in hegemonic districts where intra-Italian elections occur frequently. These studies conclude that the success of American politicians of Italian origin is linked to their capacity to appeal to broader segments of the electorate. Italian signs are numerous in American politics, increasingly so as Italian American politicians demonstrate their ability to provide political representation to society as a whole.