New York City Primary Elections are Tuesday, September 12th

Elections

• Candidate for the District 43 (Bay Ridge) City Council seat and DSA Endorsee Khader El-Yateem received significant media attention from major outlets this week including The Village Voice, The Nation, and WNYC.
• Candidates for the D. 35 (Crown Heights) City Council seat, including DSA endorsee Jabari Brisport who will be involved in a Green Party primary this Tuesday, met for a candidate forum this past week.
• Carlos Menchaca, who has been one of the more progressive voices on City Council, is an incumbent facing a rare competitive primary in D. 38 (Sunset Park). The candidates met for forums twice in the final week before the primary election.
• Candidate for the D. 41 (Brownsville) City Council Seat Alicka Amprey-Samuel received an endorsement from Bill De Blasio but made sure to voice that she would not be a “rubber stamp” for the Mayor should she win the position.
• The candidates in the closely watched race for Brooklyn District Attorney, including acting DA Eric Gonzalez who continues to gain high profile endorsements, met for a final debate that was broadcast by NY1.
• In other Brooklyn DA race news, public defenders in Brooklyn claim that Gonzalez’s April memo urging reduced bail requests, which the Times cited in its endorsement, hasn’t resulted in any meaningful changes. And candidate Marc Fliedner’s membership in DSA was touted in multiple articles.
• In Upper Manhattan, two-term incumbent and candidate for Council Speaker, Ydanis Rodriguez (District 10, Inwood), faces electoral heat over the rezoning facing the district.
• Rafael Salamanca Jr.’s reelection race in D. 17 (Hunts Point), in which he holds a commanding fundraising advantage, shows that even the City’s generous matching funds are often insufficient in the City’s poorer neighborhoods.
• In Queens, Hiram Monseratte, who was convicted of stealing City funds and expelled from the State Senate for domestic violence, may actually win the seat for D. 21 (College Point).
• Bill De Blasio and Sal Albanese had their second and final Mayoral Primary debate on Wednesday.
• Candidates for civil court judgeships generally run unopposed at the primary level. This year’s Kings County Democratic race is different as a slate of five independent Democrats is running against the chosen candidates of the Democratic County Committee. Additional information on the candidates can be found here.
• Another item that will be on the Democratic primary ballot that might be new to many voters is the position of District Leader, a voluntary position in the party apparatus active at the county level. District Leaders make important decisions about candidates for judgeships, as well as who will fill ballot lines in certain special elections, such as the recent departures of New York State Senator Daniel Squadron and Assemblymember Denny Farrell.
• The Daily News, who were just sold to Tronc, have released endorsements for a number of candidates throughout the city, including Laurie Cumbo, Justin Brannan, and the openly homophobic Ruben Diaz, Sr. in the Bronx. Their endorsements are broken down by borough, for Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx.

Local News

• Free breakfast and lunch will be made available to every student at New York City public schools. “Free School Lunch for All will provide financial relief to families and ensure all students are receiving nutritious meals so that they can succeed in the classroom and beyond,” Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina told ABC7 Eyewitness News. The city’s school district is the largest in the country with approximately 1.1 million students.
• City Limits published an article this week detailing which sitting City Council Members in districts that are up for rezoning have taken the most in contributions from real estate interests. Interestingly, two of the top 5 are Progressive Caucus members Brad Lander and Melissa Mark-Viverito
• The gender gap in the New York City Council could become even worse after this year’s election.
• Mayor de Blasio may be ignoring his legal responsibilities to New York City children in failing to address educational standards in Hasidic private schools.
• Amazon received up to $18 million in tax credits from the New York State government in order to build a new warehouse in Staten Island.

Useful Resources for the New York City Primary Elections

Find your polling place here.

Check out an interactive voting guide here.

A list of many of the elected positions in New York City along with their functions is here.

A City Limits guide to who’s who in the contested City Council races can be found here.

A group of local public defenders came up with a guide to the candidates for Brooklyn DA ranking them based on their commitment to ending mass incarceration which you can see here.

Gotham Gazette has made a comprehensive spreadsheet available detailing election endorsements here.

Not enough? Find every election story filed by Gotham Gazette this season here.