Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul (photo: The Governor's Office)
“That’s what we do in New York -- that’s what we need in our nation!” declared Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul from a church lectern Sunday, sounding not unlike her boss, Governor Andrew Cuomo.
Hochul, whose remarks were at times drowned out by applause, was highlighting Cuomo’s progressive accomplishments -- paid family leave, equal pay provisions, and criminal justice reform -- before a congregation of elected officials, aides, and others attending the New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators’ annual gathering in Albany. And, as she has done across the state in recent weeks, Hochul outlined signature planks of Cuomo’s 2018 agenda, like bail and speedy trial reforms.
At Wilborn Temple First Church, Hochul agily made scriptural references, and like Cuomo during his 2018 State of the State address, invoked the heartbreaking story of Kalief Browder, a young man who committed suicide after being held for three years in Rikers Island jails without ever being given a trial date.
“A young man accused of stealing a backpack, and spends three years of his life, languishing in a jail, and finally he couldn’t take it anymore. They crushed his spirit and he took his life,” said Hochul. “If only he had had enough money for the bail, he could have been out there, perhaps on his way to a good job or career or family.”
Despite Hochul’s warm reception, a number of black and Latino elected officials attending the conference -- including New York City Council Members Antonio Reynoso and Daneek Miller, Assembly Member Rodneyse Bichotte, and State Senator Kevin Parker -- had already declared their intentions to back her Democratic primary challenger, Brooklyn Council Member Jumaane Williams, who officially announced his bid for Lieutenant Governor at New York City Hall on Friday, February 16.
“He is a man of integrity and he is a man who brings with him the voice of the people. I am so excited and I hope that you are as well,” said Miller, at Williams’ announcement, where Williams also announced support from other elected officials, like Council Member Brad Lander, and several community groups.
Like Hochul, Williams also attended “Caucus Weekend” events, participating in two panels, one on criminal justice reform and another on gun violence, before traveling around the state Monday to promote his message.
On one stop, Williams sat with a gaggle of SUNY New Paltz students and New Paltz town officials at Cafeteria, a low-key coffee shop with mural-coated walls and mismatched upholstery. Striking a decidedly different tone than Hochul, Williams lead a discussion that ranged from the flaws with the governor’s Excelsior Scholarship to the arbitrariness of how grants are awarded by New York’s Regional Economic Development Councils, a Cuomo creation that Hochul chairs.
Aside from presiding over the state Senate and acting as gubernatorial successor, the Lieutenant Governor position is largely undefined by statute, and the 41-year-old Williams said he aspires to be “the people’s” lieutenant governor, using the position as a “megaphone” to pressure the governor to deliver on his promises to progressives.
“I hope to use the bully pulpit,” said Williams, adding that he is willing to support and work with the governor on things they are aligned on. “I don’t want to be opposition for its own sake.”
Of Cuomo’s 2018 agenda, WillIams said, “A lot of it sounds good, but a lot of it is mirrors. You talk about ‘Raise the Age,’ which is awesome, but you don’t actually have the funding for the city to get it accomplished,” he said, referring to the criminal justice reform measure passed last year and the lack of funding for implementation in the governor’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year.
"I haven't seen sincere leadership on a whole host of issues,” Williams said on a recent episode of the Max & Murphy Podcast from Gotham Gazette and City Limits, discussing the rationale for his campaign and why he is taking on Hochul and Cuomo. “Somebody needs to say 'the emperor has no clothes,'" he explained of his plans for the position and what’s lacking now.
A child of Brooklyn public schools, Williams overcame ADHD and Tourette's Syndrome to become a rising star in the City Council. In the city, he has made a name for himself as as both an effective councilman and activist, leading protests and passing legislation on criminal justice reform and becoming a fierce advocate for housing affordability. Now the councilman must flesh out his platform to appeal to voters around the state.
“The learning curve is not as steep as I thought I would be,” Williams said in New Paltz of his exploration of upstate concerns. “The reason we did listening tours is to make sure that we were on the right trajectory, and we learned quickly that we are, so now it’s about being fine-tuned, making sure we are covering all of the local issues.”
He has noted that upstate farmers, many of whom employ undocumented immigrants, are concerned about the federal immigration crackdown, and that housing issues, similarly, transcend regional divides.
While Williams has spoken to three potential Democratic gubernatorial contenders -- actress and advocate Cynthia Nixon, former Syracuse Mayor Stephanie Miner, and former state Senator Terry Gipson -- he says he is running independently and would stay independent from the governor, whomever it is. Gibson is the only Democrat currently campaigning against Cuomo for the nomination.
New Yorkers vote for lieutenant governor as a standalone position during the party primaries, but for the general, the lieutenant governor nominee shares a ticket with the gubernatorial nominee of the same party. The position does come with more than $600,000 in budget funds, typically spent on causes assigned by the governor -- an allowance that could potentially get cut during the following budget cycle for a lieutenant governor that does not fall in line with the executive’s agenda.
Hochul, who has not officially launched her reelection campaign, was Cuomo’s lieutenant governor running mate in 2014, when he was seeking a second term but his first-term running mate, Robert Duffy, decided against running again. Hochul also has a compelling life story, having lived in a trailer home as a child, becoming Erie County’s longtime county clerk, and eventually rising to serve a brief stint in Congress. Despite being a Democrat, Hochul won a 2011 special election for the 26th Congressional District, one of the most Republican districts in the state. Her loss in the general election a year later was chalked up to her vote in favor of President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, a progressive stance she touted in her remarks Sunday.
In 2014, still largely unknown to most of the state, she ran a tight race against Tim Wu, a progressive Columbia Law School professor who made a name for himself coining “net neutrality,” running with Zephyr Teachout, Cuomo’s gubernatorial challenger in the primary. Though Hochul beat Wu, 60 percent to 40 percent, Wu performed better than his running mate on a miniscule budget for a statewide race.
But after four years of diligently representing the governor at events across the state, Hochul is going to be tough to unseat, in part given the female-heavy electorate in New York State, according to Bruce Gyory, a political consultant.
“Hochul was out there defending Planned Parenthood day and night during the assault. She has a strong profile on Planned Parenthood and on gay rights,” said Gyory, noting that Williams’ previous statements on marriage equality and abortion are likely to haunt him as he tries to scoop up the more progressive Democratic base. "Given how female the electorate is -- you have to wonder if an electorate which is just shy of 60 percent is going to dump their female lieutenant governor."
At the New Paltz cafe, Williams tried to preempt the criticisms, which may have hurt him during his two bids for City Council speaker, which he most recently lost to Council Member Corey Johnson, who is openly gay.
The son of Grenadian immigrants, Williams has referred to his religious upbringing and spirituality for the confusion about his positions on the hot-button issues.
“There are two issues that they are going to try to attack me with that are just plain wrong,” he said. “I'm very proud of my religious and spiritual background, it’s what guides the justice work that I do. But they always confuse my position on marriage equality and [access] to legal abortion.”
Previous attempts to demure on the topics, urging people to look at his legislative record which includes votes to protect women’s health access, have backfired, and past comments have proven hard to shake.
Now Williams is trying to get ahead of the narrative. "I want to see that Roe vs. Wade is codified. Unlike the governor, I don't just talk about it, I want to see it happen, in case the ‘orange man’ does his thing," he told his New Paltz audience, referring to Cuomo’s failed efforts to push abortion protections through the Republican-controlled state Senate and to President Donald Trump. In his short lieutenant governor campaign thus far, which included a month-long exploratory phase, Williams has repeatedly faced questions on the two issues, as well as slightly couched criticism from Melissa DeRosa, Cuomo’s top governmental aide. DeRosa and Hochul have been out front promoting the Cuomo administration's "2018 Women's Agenda for New York," released in January.
Williams has recently demonstrated his commitment to women’s health by introducing legislation barring employment discrimination based on reproductive decisions. Other issues he hopes to bring attention to through his candidacy, and potential platform, are education funding, transportation, and gun control.
Hochul, too, will have to answer for previous positions she has taken on immigration and gun control, which again, due to recent tragedies, has become the focus of media attention. As county clerk, she opposed the issuing of driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants and in Congress voted in favor of National Rifle Association-backed legislation.
Jeff Lewis, Hochul’s chief of staff, said the lieutenant governor’s views have evolved on both issues, noting that the climate surrounding the debate has changed considerably in recent years. He pointed out that fellow Upstate Democrats, like former Senator Hillary Clinton and current Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, at one time took similarly conservative stances.
Hochul did support the New York SAFE Act, gun control legislation championed and signed by Cuomo, and according to Lewis, regrets voting for the 2011 National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act, federal legislation that would allow people with concealed carry permits to carry their guns into other states that don’t allow concealed weapons. “Her exposure to gun violence was very different than when she became a statewide elected official,” said Lewis, noting the increase in large-scale massacres in the United States in recent years.
While she was speaking in her elected, not campaign, capacity, Hochul touched on the shootings during her remarks in Albany on Sunday.
“In today’s day we still bury children in high school because nobody else has the courage to do what we have done here in the state of New York and that is to ban those weapons of lethal destruction,” she said. “Please God let our leaders in Washington here those cries.”
Williams, a leading figure in New York City on gun violence prevention, says he gives the governor’s administration credit for passage of the SAFE Act, which may have contributed to an 18 percent decline in shootings in the state, but said it doesn’t go far enough.
“Resting on the laurels of the SAFE Act in the face of a full-on assault, is not a good idea. Every time it’s brought up, you deserve some credit, but what have you done since then?” Williams said on the Max & Murphy Podcast. “I always want to make sure we parse out, when it comes to gun violence, supply and demand...I don’t think what is coming out of the governor’s mansion goes nearly as far on the demand side across the state."
To reduce “demand” for guns, Williams, who co-chairs the Council’s Task Force to Combat Gun Violence, has taken a holistic approach to gun violence prevention, utilizing government, law enforcement, and community leaders on the ground. He has even looked national with his launch of the National Network to Combat Gun Violence, local elected officials from around the country dedicated to ending gun violence in their communities.
Williams says that if elected, he will model the role after that of New York City’s public advocate, which also acts as the mayor’s successor and fill-in, but is expected to hold the mayor accountable. Historically, lieutenant governors have acted as compliant surrogates for the governor, championing the executive’s agenda, and focusing their energies on causes selected by the governor.
However, there have been cases where the second-in-command crafted his or her own messaging or operated counter to the administration in other ways.
Mary Anne Krupsak, who was lieutenant governor under Governor Hugh Carey, was frustrated that she was not given enough to do in her role. When Carey ran for his second term in 1978, she withdrew from the ticket, ran for governor herself against Carey, and lost.
In 1982, New York City Mayor Ed Koch lost the Democratic gubernatorial primary to Mario Cuomo, but Koch’s running mate, Alfred DelBello, won the lieutenant governor seat, resulting in an awkward match that lasted just one term.
Betsy McCaughey Ross, a conservative policy wonk and New York Post columnist who went on to work for President Donald Trump, flouted expectations with her outspokenness during her short tenure as lieutenant governor to former Republican Governor George Pataki, between 1995 and 1998. Pataki announced he would not select her as his running mate the following year with a stern rebuke.
''Unfortunately, you have demonstrated through your decisions that you do not share my vision for the state,'' he wrote. Recounting his record on various issues, Pataki added, ''Your unwillingness and, in fact, outright refusal to work as part of our united team to build on these historic achievements has been disappointing.''
Lewis, Hochul’s chief of staff, continues to dismiss Williams' run as a "political stunt." While he acknowledges that Hochul is running, Lewis said she is currently focused her elected duties, such as delivering an on-time state budget.
When asked if Hochul has ever spoken or acted independently of Cuomo, Lewis said, "I don't think she's had to take any actions thus far, because the governor's been on the right side of every issue."
If Williams is able to win the nomination he would likely do so on the strength of a New York City voting base and despite whatever funds Cuomo is willing to spend from his $30-plus million war chest to help popularize Hochul, not to mention whatever amount Hochul can raise and spend on her own. It’s unclear how much Williams will be able to raise for his lieutenant governor campaign. The Council member did pick up another endorsement this week, from People for Bernie, a grassroots group of Bernie Sanders supporters. Williams endorsed Sanders in the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, while Cuomo and Hochul were strong backers of Hillary Clinton. The Brooklyn Council member told Max & Murphy that he is actively pursuing the backing of the liberal Working Families Party, which will hold its nominating convention this spring and has a contentious relationship with Cuomo after a dramatic 2014 endorsement that did not pan out as the party hoped or Cuomo promised.
Williams said at his kickoff press conference that if he and Cuomo were a joint ticket for the general election, he would campaign with and for the governor, stating that he cannot see any Republican being a better option than Cuomo, even if he has reservations about Cuomo’s politics.
According to SUNY New Paltz professor Gerald Benjamin, the governor’s lieutenant should ideally be treated as an appointed position and their ideological compatibility is necessary for government to function.
“The gentleman is an ambitious person who wants to increase his visibility,” Benjamin said of Williams. “Ambition is the engine of politics, so it’s not a bad thing, but for politics to work effectively, the governor and lieutenant governor have to be aligned.”
[Listen to Jumaane Williams on the Max & Murphy Podcast]
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by Rachel Silberstein, State government reporter, Gotham Gazette
@RachelSilby @GothamGazette
New York City Hall
What to watch for this week in New York politics:
This week the City Council and state Legislature are on their annual mid-February breaks that coincide with school vacation week in New York. There are no session days or budget hearings in Albany, and there are no City Council hearings in the city. (The state Legislature will be back in session for two days next week, Tuesday and Wednesday, before a very busy March.)
There are several events to be aware of in this holiday-shortened week -- see below for a day-by-day rundown. Meanwhile, we're watching for more as races heat up for the 11 special state legislative elections that will be held April 24; as the gubernatorial race continues to unfold, specifially whether State Senator John DeFrancisco can continue to rally Republican support for his nomination; as City Council Member Jumaane Williams continues to pursue his recently-announced bid for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor; and more.
There will be continued examination this week of Governor Andrew Cuomo's executive budget plan, specifically with regard to the "30-day amendments" he released last week, which now form the full picture of his proposal that will focus negotiations with the Legislature. We're also heading toward the one-house legislative budgets, which will be unveiled mid-March.
And, this week will also see more analysis of Mayor Bill de Blasio's State of the City agenda, as we await more news about his promised charter revision commission, and more detail about other parts of his new plans focused on reinvigorating the city's democracy. Meanwhile, there will continue to be discussion of the state of NYCHA, including a press conference Tuesday morning at City Hall, which promises to garner some attention.
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The run of the week in detail:
Monday
Monday is the Washington's Birthday (celebrated) holiday.
Tuesday
At 9:50 a.m. Tuesday, Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul will deliver "a message of welcome to immigrants during naturalization ceremony for 31 new Americans,: at Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural Site in Buffalo. At 11 a.m., Hochul will celebrate "upcoming Maple Weekends and inclusion of maple industry in NYS Grown and Certified Program with Ceremonial Tree Tapping," at Smith's Maple Farm in Hamburg.
"On Tuesday, rapper Ja Rule alongside Council Members Alicka Ampry-Samuel and Ritchie Torres, electeds, and public housing residents from across NYC, will hold a press conference and rally to call for more investment and immediate renovations to NYCHA's failing heating systems and to #TurnUpTheHeat. Persistent heat and hot water outages at NYCHA developments throughout the city have impacted 323,000 public housing residents--80% of NYCHA tenants--leaving them in frigid apartments throughout the winter season. The rally will be held on the steps of City Hall at 11:00 AM and will include remarks from Ja Rule.”
At 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, the New York City Board of Elections will hold a commissioners’ meeting.
At 5 p.m. Tuesday, Civic Hall and Citizen Action NY will host “The Revolution Will Be Localized,” a discussion on closing Rikers, bail reform, and other criminal justice issues, at Civic Hall’s headquarters.
On Tuesday at 6:15 p.m., Public Advocate Letitia James will deliver remarks at Congressman Joe Crowley’s Black History Month Celebration. At 7:30 p.m., James will deliver remarks at the People’s Climate Movement-NY 2018 Kickoff Meeting, at Judson Memorial Church in Manhattan.
At 7 p.m. Tuesday, "State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie will talk disparities in health and economic security that hurt communities of color on WBLS’s “Open Line” program with Judge Bob Pickett and Bob Slade. Speaker Heastie, fellow legislators, AARP, the NAACP and Urban League will address two key state budget proposals by Governor Andrew Cuomo: to create a workplace retirement savings option that private sector companies could offer their employees, and to expand telehealth." The event will be at the Schomburg Center for Research for Black Culture. Along with Heastie, participants will include State Senators Brian Benjamin and Kevin Parker; Hazel Dukes, President, New York State NAACP; Arva Rice, Executive Director, NY Urban League; and Beth Finkel, AARP New York State Director, among others.
Wednesday
At 9 a.m. Wednesday, the CUNY Urban Food Policy Institute will host a discussion on New York City food policy since 2008 and “lessons for the next decade.” Panelists will include City Council Member Mark Levine; Cathy Nonas, formerly of the Center for Health Equity; and Dwayne Wharton, of the Food Trust. The event will take place at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy in Harlem.
Thursday
At 9 a.m. Thursday, City & State will host its “Digital NY Summit,” convening “New York's information leaders from government and industry” for discussions “on the innovative ideas being used to improve the delivery of services to both citizens and government agencies,” at the Manny Cantor Center on the Lower East Side. DoITT Commissioner Samir Saini will deliver the opening keynote address. Other speakers include Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez, and New York City Chief Technology Officer Miguel Gamiño, among others.
At 10 a.m. Thursday, the MTA will hold a public board meeting.
At 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. will deliver his 2018 State of the Borough Address at the Bronx High School of Science.
At noon Thursday, the Senate Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) will hold a public meeting at 250 Broadway in Manhattan regarding cryptocurrency, its impacts, and regulation of it.
At 7 p.m. Thursday, Women of Color for Progress will host “Why Does County Committee Matter” at the Flatiron School in Manhattan. Panelists will include Brooklyn District Leader Nikki Lucas, Manhattan County Committeewoman Reshma Patel, Queens State Senate candidate Jessica Ramos, and Bronx District Leader Marjorie Velazquez.
Friday and the weekend
At 8:15 a.m. Friday, the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School will host Police Commissioner James O’Neill for a discussion as part of its ongoing CityLaw Breakfast series.
At 8:30 a.m. Friday, New York Law School and the Federal Bar Association will host the 2018 New York Asylum and Immigration Conference at the New York Law School. Bitta Mostofi, Acting Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, will deliver the keynote address.
At 9 a.m. Friday, State Senator Tony Avella will hold a town hall meeting at Clearview Park Golf Course in Bayside, Queens.
Mayor de Blasio is expected to make his weekly appearance on WNYC's The Brian Lehrer Show at 10 a.m. Friday.
At 11 a.m. Saturday, several unions, including AFL-CIO, AFSCME, and DC37, will host the New York “Working People’s Day of Action,” calling for an end to a “rigged” system and advocating on behalf of issues such as the right to organize as a union, affordable healthcare, and equal pay. The event will begin at Foley Square.
On Saturday in Jamaica, Queens, "Council Member I. Daneek Miller hosts Black History Month celebration featuring live performances and guest speakers, including Drs. Rameck Hunt and George Jenkins of the Three Doctors Foundation, and co-authors of The Bond, The Pact and We Beat the Street."
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Have events or topics for us to include in an upcoming Week Ahead in New York Politics? E-mail Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max any time: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (please use "For Week Ahead" as email subject).
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by Ben Brachfeld and Ben Max
@GothamGazette
Gov. Cuomo voting (photo via The Governor's Office)
Governor Andrew Cuomo has officially called a special election to fill 11 vacant seats in the Legislature — two in the Senate and nine in the Assembly — for April 24. Of these, four vacancies are located within the five boroughs of New York City. The short races are quickly heating up to replace three former city-based state legislators who have joined the City Council -- former Assembly members Francisco Moya and Mark Gjonaj and former Senator Ruben Diaz Sr. -- and another lawmaker, Brian Kavanagh, who left the Assembly for the Senate.
While all of these seats are likely to remain in Democratic hands, the other Senate special election is in a key Westchester swing district where party control of the upper chamber -- Republicans’ last stronghold of power at the state level -- is at play. There, Senate district 37, Democrat George Latimer left a vacancy when he was elected Westchester County Executive in November.
The governor had faced pressure from Democrats to call the special elections on January 1, the earliest possible date, which would have meant March elections and winners in place to represent their districts in final budget negotiations -- a new state budget is due by April 1. But, Cuomo decided to wait, saying he did not want to inject politics into the budget process, and called the specials so they would occur in April. Winners will be seated in the Legislature in time for negotiations during the final weeks of the legislative session that ends in June.
The backdrop also features a tentative reunification deal between the Senate’s breakaway Democratic faction known as the IDC and their mainline peers -- which is only on the table if Democrats regain the requisite 32 seats to retake the majority in the 63-seat chamber before the end of the 2018 session. Winning the two Senate seats is essential, and a great deal of focus will be on the Westchester race. The IDC, which forms a ruling coalition with the Senate GOP, includes eight members, while the mainline Democratic conference currently features 21 members, and one nominal Democrat, Senator Simcha Felder, caucuses with Republicans.
In New York, special elections do not include typical primaries, with party nominees picked by party officials rather than the larger voting pool. In the city’s deep blue districts, this often means that the Democratic nominee is virtually handed the seat. Upstate, a number of GOP-held seats are likely to remain safely Republican.
A closer look at where things stand in each of the 11 legislative vacancies home to special elections April 24 -- party candidate nominations must be set with the Board of Elections by February 26.
SENATE
Senate District 37 - Westchester
Since Latimer won the Westchester County Executive contest in November, unseating two-term GOP County Executive Rob Astorino, the race is heating up to fill his vacant 37th Senate District seat.
Assemblymember Shelley Mayer was chosen as the Democratic nominee for the seat -- beating out teacher and activist Kat Brezler -- in a mini-convention held by county Democratic leaders in January. Former Rye Councilmember Julie Killian, who lost a Senate race to Latimer in 2016, secured the GOP nomination in early February over former Yonkers Inspector General Dan Schorr. Republican candidate Sarmad Khojasteh had previously dropped out of the race to endorse Killian.
While Democrats have a two-to-one enrollment advantage in Westchester, the district has become a battleground in recent years. If Mayer is elected, the 90th Assembly District will be left vacant and without representation until the November 2018 election.
Senate District 32 - The Bronx
This Senate seat became available when Diaz Sr. won the election for New York City Council’s District 18, which was left vacant by term-limited Annabel Palma.
Diaz Sr., a conservative Democrat who had served the Senate’s 32nd District since 2002, easily beat several third-party candidates in the general election after a more competitive primary. Assemblymember Luis Sepulveda, a Democrat, formally declared his candidacy for the Senate seat in December and is expected to be Diaz Sr.’s successor in the overwhelmingly Democratic district. This would leave a vacancy in the 76th Assembly District.
ASSEMBLY
Assembly District 39 - Queens
This position was vacated by former Assemblymember Francisco Moya, who was elected to the City Council District 21 seat in November. Moya replaced Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, who decided not to run for re-election. Candidates running for Moya’s seat include Catalina Cruz, the former chief of staff for Ferreras-Copeland, and Aridia Espinal, a former Moya staffer and district leader, who has Moya’s endorsement.
Cruz has criticized the nature of special elections in New York. “Unfortunately, the special election process for the state Assembly does not allow for Democratic primary voters to decide who represents them on the Democratic Party ballot line,” Cruz said in a statement.
Assembly District 74 - Manhattan
The 74th State Assembly seat was vacated by Brian Kavanagh when selected by Democratic Committee leaders last fall to replace Dan Squadron in the State Senate. Democrat Harvey Epstein, scooping up endorsements from a slew of City Council members, Public Advocate Letitia James, Comptroller Scott Stringer, and other Democratic power players, handily won the Democratic nod over Mike Corbett, an aide to City Council Member Costa Constantinides and president emeritus of the New York State Young Democrats, on February 12.
The New York Republican County Executive Committee unanimously endorsed Bryan Cooper for race.
Assembly District 80 - The Bronx
This seat was held by former Assemblymember Mark Gjonaj, who was elected to the City Council’s 13th District, replacing term-limited James Vacca last year.
Gjonai’s former chief of staff Nathalia Fernandez received the Democratic nomination for the Assembly’s 80th District on Thursday, paving the way for her to take the seat in April.
“Our district deserves an Assembly Member who has the experience to get things done. My deep roots in the community and my experience has prepared me to be an effective representative on day one,” said Fernandez, who has the backing of her former boss.
Fernandez said her priorities will include improving quality of life in the district, increasing education funding in the state budget, supporting small businesses, and improving public transportation. The district includes Morris Park, Pelham Parkway, and Norwood, among other Bronx neighborhoods.
Assembly District 5 - Suffolk County
This Suffolk County seat was vacated by Republican Assemblymember Al Graf, who won his bid for district court judge in Islip in November. Graf represented the 8th District, which includes Holbrook and Stony Brook, since 2010. Like much of Suffolk County, this district is a toss up between Democrats and Republicans -- though the GOP maintains a slight advantage.
Doug Smith, a 27-year-old former aide to Graf, has secured the Republican nomination, while Democrats are searching for a new nominee after union leader Peter Zarcon received the Democratic nod, but pulled out of the race Wednesday citing “personal family concerns.”
According to Newsday, Democratic leaders say they are now interviewing Deborah Slinowsky, a former school board member who works in the Suffolk County Department of Social Services, and Jenn Hann, a legislative aide.
Assembly District 102 - Greene County
Former Republican Assemblymember Pete Lopez stepped down from his Assembly position to become a Region 2 Administrator at the United States Environmental Protection Agency in October. Schoharie Town Supervisor Christopher Tague has secured the Republican nod, beating out former Ulster County Legislature candidate Santos Lopez, while Aidan O’Connor Jr., a member of the Greene County Legislature, is the Democratic nominee. The district encompasses parts of four counties -- Albany Columbia, Greene, and Schoharie -- and has a slight Republican advantage.
Assembly 17th District - Nassau County
Former Assemblymember Thomas McKevitt, a Republican, stepped down for a seat on the Nassau County Legislature. No candidates have yet emerged. The district has a GOP advantage.
Assembly 142nd District - Buffalo Region
Michael Kearns, a Democrat who ran on the GOP line, narrowly defeated Democratic candidate and former radio host Steve Cichon, a lifelong Republican, for Erie County Clerk in the fall. While the majority of the district is Democratic, party affiliation can be complicated in Buffalo.
Erie County Legislator Patrick Burke has nabbed the Democratic nomination for this vacant seat, while the Republicans have picked a Democrat, Erik T. Bohen, as their candidate in the special election to replace Kearns.
The district includes parts of South Buffalo, Lackawanna, Seneca, and Orchard Park.
Assembly District 10 - Suffolk County
Former Republican Assemblymember Chad Lupinacci left this seat to take over as supervisor of Huntington, a seat held by Frank Petrone for 24 years. The 10th District of the Assembly, which includes large portions of Suffolk County, has a Democratic advantage.
Assembly District 107 - Rensselaer, Albany, Columbia
No candidates have emerged yet for the seat of former Assemblymember Steve McLaughlin, a Republican who left the Assembly after winning the race for Rensselaer County executive, but five Democrats and two Republicans have reportedly been interviewed by respective party leaders.
The district is evenly split between Democrats and Republicans.
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by Rachel Silberstein, State government reporter, Gotham Gazette
@RachelSilby @GothamGazette