Primary Elections Roundup + RGB passes rent freeze

DSA Races:

• The Real Deal outlines the primaries most closely watched by the real estate industry, which include the full NYC-DSA slate plus Assembly Member Diana Richardson’s primary against Jesse Hamilton.

• City & State covered the dynamics in the three way race for State Senate District 25. 

• NYC-DSA endorsees Jabari Brisport and Samelys López were interviewed by the New Yorker as part of a look at leftist challengers to Democrats in tomorrow’s primaries.

• The Indypendent’s coverage of the primaries includes a summary of the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee’s spending, and interviews with DSA-endorsees Phara Souffrant Forrest, Zohran Mamdani, Marcela Mitaynes, and Samelys López.

Other Elections: 

• The Intercept highlights several competitive down ballot races, including 10 local assembly races.

• The Brooklyn Democratic Party endorsed every incumbent facing a reelection challenge except for Assembly Member Diana Richardson (District 43, Crown Heights), who is facing a challenge to her right from former IDC Senator Jesse Hamilton. The party did not endorse a candidate in that race.

• Gotham Gazette analyzed the 2018 primary’s increase in voter turnout and speculated if a similar scenario would play out in this week’s primary.

• Republican State Senate minority leader John Flanagan is resigning for a private sector job on June 28 after previously announcing he would not seek re-election in November. Less than two years ago, Flanagan was the Senate Majority leader and one of the most powerful men in New York State, but he appears to have lost interest in public service thanks to poor future GOP prospects in the state legislature. State Senator Robert Ortt (District 62, Western New York) is likely to replace Flanagan as minority leader.

• National figures and organizations stepped into the 16th Congressional District Race (Bronx & Westchester). National DSA and Lower Hudson Valley DSA endorsed Jamaal Bowman, and were joined by Elizabeth Warren and California Rep. Katie Porter. Hillary Clinton, and Republican Super PAC, and members of the Congressional Black Caucus endorsed Eliot Engel, who appears to be mobilizing much of the centrist Democratic establishment to salvage his incumbency.

• In the open race to succeed Rep. Nita Lowey in New York’s 17th Congressional District (Rockland County), a private poll suggests that Mondaire Jones is the most viable candidate to defeat ex-IDC member David Carlucci.

Local News:

• The Rent Guidelines Board voted to freeze rents on rent stabilized apartments for next year.

• Leaked emails between top aides to Mayor De Blasio show many of his own staff members were arrested and attacked by police officers in the same confrontation with protesters in which De Blasio praised the NYPD’s behavior.

• 99 Members of the Assembly and State Senate and several major unions released a letter demanding that the State taxes the rich to cover budget shortfalls due to the COVID-19 crisis.

• City Council Member Carlos Menchaca (D-Sunset Park) called for the Council to issue a vote of no confidence in Mayor De Blasio, and call on Governor Cuomo to remove him from office, in response to the Mayor’s handling of peaceful protests against police brutality.

• An executive order signed by Governor Cuomo in March allowed patients who tested positive for Covid-19, but with stable symptoms, to be discharged from hospitals to nursing homes, resulting in rapid spread of the disease through New York’s facilities, killing over 6,000 nursing home residents.

• New York City public school teachers and staff have questions about how they were asked to deal with Covid-19 prior to the decision to close schools in March, and concerns about how to reopen safely in the fall.

According the MTA’s Inspector General, the cops added last year to police the subway resulted in a large increase in overtime costs but no reduced complaints or delays stemming from the presence of homeless New Yorkers on the subway.