One minute, he’s playing basketball in the street. The next, he’s having a cigarette with a constituent. 

Walking the district with Congressman Max Rose, knocking on doors in Brooklyn trying to pitch his candidacy to voters, it’s becomes clear quickly he draws some attention. 

What You Need To Know

  • One poll shows Congressman Max Rose and Nicole Malliotakis basically tied

  • Rose is trying to boost his centrist credentials in the final weeks of the race

  • There are about 50,000 absentee ballot requests for this district

One man jogs across the street to take a picture with Rose. 

“Oh man, you are shorter than you look on TV,” he tells him.

The congressman laughs — somewhat boisterously.

But he may not be laughing for long. Rose is just a freshman in Congress, and he's fighting for his political life, locked in a very tight race with a local GOP Assemblywoman, Nicole Malliotakis. 

The race is bitter, nasty.

Rose says he has no regrets. 

“Nah, no. We don’t have any regrets about the race,” Rose told us last week. "I am sure, Nicole, I would be interested to see if she has any regrets about what she has done.”

Less than a week to go and the contest is a toss-up. Rose is playing up his centrist credentials. He’s doing everything he can to try to distance himself from progressives in the Democratic Party, especially on television.

“Bill de Blasio is the worst mayor in the history of New York City,” he said in one controversial ad earlier this summer.

The TV spending spree has drawn a lot of attention to the district — not all of it good.

“Don't put any more ads on YouTube, ‘Mayor de Blasio the worst mayor ever.’ Come on! Something intelligent,” one voter told Rose outside of a Brooklyn supermarket. 

“There is some really stupid ads on YouTube,” she told us as she walked away down block. 

The latest one from Malliotakis claims de Blasio has actually endorsed Rose. 

That’s not entirely true.

City Hall told NY1 the mayor supports Democrats but has not taken an official position in the race. 

Not a surprising response, since Rose is constantly attacking the mayor. 

He claims the mayor “choked” when it comes to the city’s COVID-19 response. Rose claims he was the one to secure a drive-through testing site on Staten Island. 

We pressed him on the issue. 

“Nothing to do with the mayor?” We asked.

“No,” the congressman responded.

“No, it was the governor,” he added. "It was the governor, the federal government and us. It was partnership."

City Hall denied this.

Back in 2018, the Brooklyn part of the district was crucial to Max Rose’s victory. If he is going to win again this year, he will need Brooklyn voters to turn out.

Last week, that courtship included handing out masks. Perhaps that’s the perfect souvenir for this election season.