The Thorn

Elections

In preliminary returns from the New York City Board of Elections, which so far include only first place votes from in-person voting, Eric Adams holds a sizable lead in the mayoral race. Brad Lander is ahead in the race for Comptroller, and Jumaane Williams has 70% of the vote for Public Advocate.
In the six City Council races where NYC-DSA endorsed candidates, Tiffany Cabán (Astoria) and Alexa Avilés (Sunset Park) hold sizable leads, with Jaslin Kaur (Glen Oaks) and Michael Hollingsworth (Crown Heights) in tight races.
Final results for the election will likely not be known until July 12. On June 29, the Board of Elections will run the ranked choice voting tabulation and release another set of unofficial in-person results. Absentee ballots will be counted, and then calculated in the ranked-choice votes in the following weeks.
India Walton, a DSA-endorsed democratic socialist, is poised to win the Democratic primary for Mayor of Buffalo. She defeated four-term incumbent Byron Brown, who is reportedly considering running a write-in campaign for the general election.
State Senator Jabari Brisport (District 25, Central Brooklyn) appeared on the Brian Lehrer Show to discuss the results of the Democratic primary.

By ending New York’s State of Emergency, Governor Andrew Cuomo also ended the extremely popular to-go alcohol policy that kept many restaurants and bars afloat during the pandemic. A proposal to make the alcohol to-go policy permanent in New York failed to pass the state legislature earlier this month.
The Rent Guidelines Board approved a mid-year increase on rents for rent-stabilized apartments.
The Mayor and the City Council are in the final days of budget negotiations; the budget is due by the end of the month. The Mayor has proposed a budget of $98.6 billion, the largest in the city’s history.
The MTA, which suspended cash transactions at subway booths during the pandemic, is reportedly considering eliminating them permanently.
Attorney General Letitia James would not give a timeline on her office’s investigation into the sexual harassment and corruption allegations against Cuomo.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that the city will not immediately appeal a ruling striking down a law that barred police officers from using chokeholds and other physical restraints. The lawsuit was brought by the Police Benevolent Association, alongside other police unions, who claimed the law was too vague and would impede officers from doing their jobs.