Julia Salazar Wins + Voter Turnout Stats

Elections:

• DSA-endorsee Julia Salazar won the Democratic primary in New York State Senate District 18 on Thursday, defeating eight-term incumbent Martin Dilan, even after Dilan received a surge of illicit, last-minute donations from the real estate lobby. Salazar, who made DSA priorities housing affordability and universal health care the centerpieces of her campaign, will not face an opponent in the general election.
• The New Yorker covered DSA-member Julia Salazar’s victory and attributed it to NYC-DSA’s growing power in the City’s politics. Martin Dilan’s former spokesperson said essentially the same.
• 1.5 million votes were cast on Tuesday, more than double the turnout of the last gubernatorial primary in 2014. Even with that surge, the turnout represented only about 23% of eligible voters.
• Gothamist has a breakdown of how Andrew Cuomo and Cynthia Nixon performed in the five boroughs.
• Six of the eight members of the former IDC were ousted in Thursday’s primary. WNYC covered the grassroots campaign to take out the IDC, with a focus on the group Empire State Indivisible.
• In the most stunning of these victories, former Cuomo staffer Alessandra Biaggi defeated IDC founder and former leader Jeff Klein roundly after Klein spent $3 million on the race (more than Cynthia Nixon spent on her gubernatorial campaign).
• Marisol Alcantara, Jesse Hamilton, and Jose Peralta, who each quietly defected to the IDC two years ago in the post-Trump election media circus while serving in very progressive and diverse NYC districts, were all handily defeated after running particularly dirty campaigns.
• Former comptroller John Liu, who notably ran on the most progressive platform of police reform in 2013’s mayoral race, defeated Tony Avella in a major upset for a northeast Queens district.
• In Syracuse, progressive educator Rachel May is on the verge of defeating David Valesky, a founding member of the the IDC, after being outspent by 800%. Valesky said he will not concede until all 911 absentee ballots are counted.
• All six IDC losers will still appear on the Independence Party and Women’s Equality Party lines in the general election, but only two of them have officially conceded.
• Senator for New York State’s 17th District (Borough Park) Simcha Felder soundly defeated his challenger in the Democratic Primary and will get to continue to caucus with Senate Republicans despite being elected as a Democrat.
• Andrew Gounardes beat Ross Barkan in the 22nd State Senate District (Bay Ridge) Democratic primary and will go on to challenge current Republican State Senator for the district Marty Golden who is viewed as vulnerable.
• After some of the most heavily funded candidates by real estate came up short in Thursday’s primary, the Real Estate Board of New York still feels optimistic that it can win over the new crop of State Senators. The Rent Laws are up for renewal in 2019.
• With NYC Public Advocate Tish James likely moving on to win the Attorney General race against a Republican in November’s election, there is already a crowded field of potential candidates jockeying for her position ahead of a potential special election in 2019, thanks to a high number of term-limited city officials currently serving their second terms.
• In addition to former Council Speakers Christine Quinn and Melissa Mark-Viverito, Brooklyn Council Members Robert Cornegy and Carlos Menchaca have already publicly indicated interest in the race for Public Advocate. Others speculated to be considering the race include CM Jumaane Williams, who won 54% of the NYC vote in his DSA-endorsed effort for Lieutenant Governor, CM Ritchie Torres, CM Ydanis Rodriguez, First Lady Chirlane McCray, and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams.

Local News:

• New York City’s public Wi-Fi, LinkNYC, continues to raise privacy concerns about what data is being collected on users, and who has access to it.
• A program to encourage school safety officers to issue warning cards to students in lieu of criminal summonses for minor offenses is not being widely used, NY1 reports.
• The first week of public school in New York City saw delays and no-shows from buses, prompting an apology from the school Chancellor, Richard Carranza, and calls to move away from the Grandpa Bus Company, a company in Queens that contracts with the City and was the source of many complaints.
• Once again, New York voters faced difficulties trying to cast their ballots last week, with many finding themselves stricken from the rolls, or registered in new parties. The victims included Mayor De Blasio’s son, Dante, who had to fill out an affidavit ballot.
• The City Council’s Charter Revision Commission, which is slated to make suggestions for ballot initiatives to change the New York City Charter for 2019 with a broader mandate than this year’s Mayoral Charter Revision Commission, held its first hearing this week.

Voter turnout increase vs. 2014 Primary

Chart by Dev McManus