Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Elections

Elections

  • Candidates in Contested State Senate Primaries File Final Pre-Primary Financials

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    Alessandra Biaggi, right (photo: @Biaggi4NY)


    Though the entire New York State Legislature -- 150 Assembly seats and 63 Senate seats -- is on the ballot this year, there is a small number of competitive races to be decided during next week’s primary election on Thursday, September 13. In several key districts, mostly in New York City, insurgent challengers are attempting to unseat sitting Democrats in a sweeping effort to shake up state government, prompting the incumbents to raise and spend money accordingly. All the candidates filed the last round of pre-primary

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  • Potentially Crowded Public Advocate Special Election Could Feature Two Former Council Speakers

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    Christine Quinn, center, & Melissa Mark-Viverito (photo: City Council on flickr)


    The September primary election is just over one week away and if New York City Public Advocate Letitia James wins the Democratic nomination for attorney general over her three primary opponents, she will be a significant favorite to win the position in November owing in large part to the state’s Democrat-heavy electorate. No Republican has won statewide since Governor George Pataki captured a third term in 2002; it’s been far longer for a Republican attorney general.

    James

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  • The 2018 Elections in New York

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    Gov. Cuomo votes (photo via The Governor's Office)


    In 2018, New York will be home to elections for statewide seats including Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and Comptroller, as well as one of its two United States Senate seats. In all five positions but Attorney General, incumbent Democrats are seeking reelection. In three -- Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General -- there are competitive primaries that will be decided Thursday September 13.

    New York is also home this year to elections for all of its 27 seats

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  • WATCH: Lieutenant Governor Democratic Primary Debate Between Kathy Hochul and Jumaane Williams

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    Jumaane Williams and Kathy Hochul (Photo: MNN)


    Watch the Lieutenant Governor Democratic primary debate between incumbent Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul and her challenger, City Council Member Jumaane Williams. The debate was hosted by Manhattan Neighborhood Network and moderated by Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max ahead of the September 13 primary vote.

  • Alleging Lies, Molinaro Seeks to Have Cuomo Attack Ad Pulled

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    Screenshot of Cuomo campaign ad


    In two advertisements issued this week, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s campaign went after Republican gubernatorial nominee Marc Molinaro, comparing the Dutchess county executive to President Donald Trump and alleging that he has participated in pay-to-play politics, with both ads full of accusations that Molinaro and his campaign vehemently denied.

    Molinaro’s campaign aimed to disprove Cuomo’s accusations, which came just a few weeks before the state primary election, in which Cuomo is being challenged by Cynthia Nixon, and hardly a

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  • Hochul Asserts Previously Unmentioned Role in Anti-Sexual Harassment Laws

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    Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul (photo: The Governor's Office)


    Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday said she was “very much involved” in the recently signed laws aimed at combating sexual harassment in the workplace — a claim that comes in stark contrast to all prior indications that the legislation had been determined exclusively by four elected men and no elected women.

    “I was used as a resource, as someone who has lived this experience personally, which is why I’m so passionate about standing up for women,” Hochul said while debating her Democratic primary

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Intense Queens Senate Primary Centers on Delivering for Immigrant Communities

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    Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits


    August 29, 2018 - Max & Murphy Podcast: An Intense Queens Senate Primary with Jessica Ramos and Senator Jose Peralta

    podcast ramos perlata 277Jessica Ramos is challenging state Senator Jose Peralta in the Democratic primary, in a Queens district with a large immigrant population. Ramos, then Peralta joined the

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  • Hochul, Williams Outline Drastic Differences in Lieutenant Governor Debate

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    Jumaane Williams and Kathy Hochul (photo: Gotham Gazette)


    New York City Council Member Jumaane Williams on Wednesday pledged to remake the lieutenant governor position he is seeking, as Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul defended her record and approach to the job, as well as Governor Andrew Cuomo’s tenure. The two Democrats were appearing in their only scheduled televised debate ahead of the September 13 vote.

    The 30-minute debate, hosted by Manhattan Neighborhood Network (MNN) and moderated by Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max, aired Thursday evening on MNN, while also being live-streamed

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  • Arguing Throughout, Cuomo and Nixon Debate Experience and Vision

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    Cuomo and Nixon at the debate on CBS


    Governor Andrew Cuomo, a two-term incumbent Democrat running for reelection, came face-to-face with his primary challenger, actor and education activist Cynthia Nixon, at the first and only scheduled debate of the race on Wednesday evening at Hofstra University on Long Island. The two Democrats exchanged acerbic attacks over the course of an hour, with no shortage of finger-wagging from the governor and eye-rolling from his insurgent opponent.

    The debate, taking place just over two weeks from the September 13 vote,

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  • Nixon Says 'Narrow Path' to Victory Paved with Newly-Registered Progressives Polls ‘Not Capturing’

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    (photo: @CynthiaNixon)


    As she attempts an insurgent challenge against a two-term Democratic governor with broad establishment support and deep campaign coffers, actor and activist Cynthia Nixon believes her path to victory, admittedly a “narrow” one, lies among new voters, the mostly progressive and informed New Yorkers who have registered with the Democratic Party in the last four years. The new pool of voters is massive, numbering in the hundreds of thousands, but the question is how many will come out to vote on September 13, a Thursday, and for Nixon at

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  • Opponents Target Teachout as Democratic Attorney General Candidates Debate Role and Resumes

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    James, Maloney, Eve, Teachout (l-r)


    The four Democrats vying for the party’s nomination for attorney general faced each other in their second televised debate of the race on Tuesday at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in Manhattan.

    The debate became a 90-minute brawl as the four candidates -- New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, Congressional Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, former Verizon executive Leecia Eve, and Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout -- sought to set themselves apart from each other. But few differences emerged in their ideologies or campaign platforms as

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  • How Ronald Reagan’s 1966 Run for Governor Prefaced Cynthia Nixon’s Today

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    Ronald Reagan and Cynthia Nixon


    In the summer of 1966, on the other side of the country from where Cynthia Nixon is now battling it out to become the Governor of New York, and on the opposite end of the political spectrum to Nixon’s position as a far-left Democrat, another actor-come-political-activist, Ronald Reagan, arguably wrote the script for a relative newcomer to unseat a long-standing incumbent in a governor’s race.

    Reagan, who died in 2004 at age 93, went on to become the 40th President of the United States from 1981 to 1989, after serving as Governor

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  • Pressed on SAFE Act, Teachout Downplays Past Opposition

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    Zephyr Teachout, right, greets New Yorkers (photo: @ZephyrTeachout)


    Zephyr Teachout has throughout her attorney general campaign made the case that she is the most progressive candidate in the race, but her shifted position on major New York gun control legislation counters the impression she is attempting to offer Democratic voters ahead of the September primary, and became a flashpoint last week during the first televised

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  • Being Labeled the ‘Sheriff of Wall Street’ Isn't Enough

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    Letitia James, the author (photo: Gotham Gazette)


    Wall Street malfeasance has had devastating consequences in New York State. It precipitated the foreclosure crisis, in which tens of thousands of families lost their homes, others faced an unrecovered loss in property values, and many jobs were lost. Ten years later, the Trump Administration and the Republican Congress are weakening oversight by federal agencies by watering down the Dodd-Frank Act and undermining the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB).

    Today, Wall Street securities valuations are, by all

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  • Running for Attorney General, James Takes Strong Atlantic Yards Record Too Far

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    James at a 2007 press conference announcing a lawsuit challenging the environmental review of Atlantic Yards - she was not a plaintiff or attorney in the case (photo ©Jonathan Barkey)


    A May Politico profile of New York City Public Advocate Letitia (Tish) James, the front-runner in the upcoming election for state Attorney General, noted that “she has occasionally shown a

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  • Manhattan Senate Debate Offers Another Round of IDC Argument, Few Ideas to Fix NYCHA or the MTA

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    Sen. Alcántara, Jackson, & Leon (l-r) during the MNN debate


    Roughly three weeks before the September 13 primary elections, three candidates running for the Democratic nomination in state Senate District 31 – an area that spans the west coast of Midtown and the Upper West Side before encompassing most of Northern Manhattan – debated the incumbent’s involvement with the now defunct Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) and discussed some of the district’s most pressing issues, including those regarding transit, public and affordable housing, and

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  • 'Speaker Heastie PAC' Brings in Big Money from Special Interests, Starts Giving to Candidates

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    Carl Heastie, right, with Joe Morelle (photo: @JoeMorelle)


    New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who rose to lead the chamber following the fall from grace of his predecessor, Sheldon Silver, on charges of corruption, has been in at least one way followed in Silver’s footsteps by establishing a political action committee, which he is using to support allies

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  • Rep. Jeffries Backs Gov. Cuomo for Reelection

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    Gov. Cuomo with Rep. Jeffries (photo via the Governor's office)


    U.S. Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a rising Congressional star and Brooklyn political power-broker, is backing Governor Andrew Cuomo for reelection.

    Jeffries, who represents the 8th Congressional District of New York, which includes parts of Brooklyn and Queens, sees Cuomo’s case as airtight, despite a fierce gubernatorial primary challenge being waged by actor and activist Cynthia Nixon.

    “As the governor of the state of New York, he’s done a phenomenal job over the last eight

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  • Some New York Democrats are Backing Nixon for Governor and James for Attorney General

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    Mark-Viverito & Nixon (photo: @CynthiaNixon)


    Two of the most compelling storylines of the contentious primaries playing out this election season in New York are which Democrats decide to back Cynthia Nixon in her challenge to two-term incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo and to what extent an alliance with Cuomo is to the benefit of Letitia James as she seeks to win an open, four-way primary for Attorney General.

    Loyalty and litmus tests are being taken daily by elected officials, political club members, labor leaders, and others as the September 13 primary vote approaches. As the

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  • Max & Murphy Podcast: Preparing for Primary Day

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    Ben Max, left, of Gotham Gazette, and Jarrett Murphy, right, of City Limits


    August 22, 2018 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Preparing for Primary Day

    mara gay rectangle custom1 v2Mara Gay of the New York Times editorial board joined the show to discuss the statewide Democratic primaries for governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, and the larger political dynamics at play as New

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  • Democratic Attorney General Candidates Seek to Set Themselves Apart During First Televised Debate

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    Democratic AG candidates debate (photo: MNN)


    The four Democratic candidates for New York Attorney General met Tuesday for the first televised debate of their race, agreeing that the next chief legal officer of the state must continue to be a check on President Donald Trump, while also addressing corruption in state government and other areas of reform they would pursue in the role.

    Each of the four candidates -- New York City Public Advocate Letitia James; U.S. Representative Sean Patrick Maloney; Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout; and Leecia Eve, a

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  • At Brooklyn Forum, Nixon Pitches Policy, Criticizes Cuomo and Distances from De Blasio

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    Cynthia Nixon greets a voter (photo: @CynthiaNixon)


    Cynthia Nixon, the actor and activist challenging Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary for governor, laid out much of her campaign platform at a gubernatorial forum in Sunset Park on Tuesday, for which her opponent declined to participate. Over the course of nearly an hour, Nixon tore into the governor, insisted primary challenges are good for the party, and said she isn’t actively seeking the endorsement of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a close ally for whom she has in the past campaigned and corralled

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  • What You Can Learn From Gubernatorial Candidates' Campaign Websites

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    (image: Cuomo campaign website home page)


    The digital presence of elected government officials and candidates seeking elected office – whether it’s a fledgling Instagram account with a humble following or a tweet gone viral with tens of thousands of retweets – cannot be underestimated in today’s world. Social media provides direct access between candidates and voters, and can remove traditional barriers between constituents and their elected officials.

    Many, for instance, have partly ascribed ...

  • Democratic Candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor File Pre-Primary Fundraising Numbers

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    Cynthia Nixon and Council Member Jumaane Williams (photo:@CynthiaNixon)


    Governor Andrew Cuomo, a two-term Democrat, spent millions over the last month on his reelection campaign, far outpacing his Democratic primary rival, actor and education activist Cynthia Nixon, according to pre-primary campaign finance disclosures filed by candidates this week with the state Board of Elections. Cuomo’s running mate, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul, overwhelmingly outraised her own primary opponent, New York City Council Member Jumaane Williams.

    Cuomo ...

  • Ahead of Primary, Democrats Running for Attorney General File Campaign Finance Disclosures

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    Public Advocate Letitia James (photo: @TishJames)


    With a month to go before the September 13 primary for statewide elected offices, the four candidates running for the Democratic nomination for attorney general filed their latest campaign finance disclosures on Tuesday, covering the period between July 17 and August 13. The filings, along with a Siena College poll from June, suggest that the race remains competitive as the candidates each seek to

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