Inside New York’s Wildest Democratic Congressional Primary

In late April, a panel of state judges struck down partisan congressional district maps of New York Democrats, drawn up by the Empire State’s dominant party, to offset Republican gerrymandering in red states.

The new, court-ordered maps – finalized in late May – triggered a scuffle as rival incumbents prepared to face off against each other and primary challengers prepared to adapt their odds.

A new congressional district, New York’s 10th, emerged as something else entirely: a solid Democratic seat in which a range of different contenders could compete in an open field. Voting is to conclude on August 23.

The district, which includes lower Manhattan and a group of adjacent neighborhoods in central and south Brooklyn, is a racially and economically diverse subset of the Big Apple. It has some of New York City’s largest Chinese and Latino populations, a vibrant LGBTQ community, a high concentration of affluent liberal voters, and a conservative Jewish enclave, a part of Borough Park.

The district has attracted a wide range of Democratic candidates to suit the diversity and liberal leanings of its residents. Below is the list of top 8 contenders in no particular order. (Visit the Gotham Gazette for a detailed list of announced candidates.)

Rape. Mondaire Jones, one of the first two openly gay, black members of Congress, won the 2020 Democratic primary in crowded New York City’s northern suburbs. One of his opponents, the heir to a biotech fortune, lost Jones by a huge margin – and still by a large margin.

But faced with more conservative voters and a fiery primary against the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Jones, a staunch progressive, decided to try his luck in an entirely new district rather than hold it out in the suburbs.

Jones is likely to face some skepticism from voters – and rivals – for moving to the district to run. But he does find advantages that may blunt some of that challenge. A fundraising powerhouse, he starts the race with nearly $3 million in cash, backed by influential democrat and the exposure on cable television that he’s already using to show his commitment tough gun regulation,

New York State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niue is one of the highest-profile members of a youth crop of progressives who represent New York City in the state capital, Albany. Elected as the MLA of the state in 2016, she defeated a candidate Supported by disgraced former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who had previously held the seat. His victory doubled Albany’s contingent of Asian American lawmakers.

Niou, a Taiwanese immigrant who already represents Manhattan’s Chinatown, will be New York City’s second Asian American member of Congress. At a time when Asian New Yorkers are facing increasing incidents of violence, Niou where is That ethnic representation is more important than ever. (New York’s 10th includes the Chinese community in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.)

Niou has also carved a niche as an outspoken progressive wanting to undermine the state’s democratic establishment. She was an early supporter of Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s presidential bid and was a frequent critics Andrew Cuomo (d) of then-New York Gov. The most radical elements of the Left activist are already heading towards his campaign; The New York City chapter of the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led climate action group, supported him on Monday.

New York City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera currently represents many of the lower Manhattan neighborhoods in New York’s 10th, including the Lower East Side, where she grew up in Section 8 housing. The daughter of a unionized city worker who moved from Puerto Rico to New York City, Rivera got her start in city politics, fighting to ensure affordable housing and community input in a major Lower East Side construction project.

While the other candidates have clear ideological lanes, Rivera is a mainstream progressive. run As a practical and staunch advocate for his constituents. She works her way up to sponsoring athletic programs for youth in her district and establishing one of the nation’s first municipally-backed funds to help women from other states seeking abortions in New York City.

Rivera, who ran unsuccessfully for city council president last year, stands a chance of receiving similar benefits for her community if she is sent to Washington. She would also provide Hispanic representation to a district with large Puerto Rican, Dominican, Mexican and Central American populations. His mentor, Rep. A possible endorsement, from Nidia Velázquez, is something to look at.

Former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, a resident of Park Slope, where progressive politics is grounded as a multi-million-dollar brownstone, with sky-high name recognition and the rare distinction of earning disdain from both the city’s most conservative voters and begins. Its most left-leaning ones.

But if de Blasio is the former mayor everyone likes to hate — even a former spokesman now advising Jones — he too is routinely underestimated by his detractors. He maintains strong ties with the city’s most powerful labor unions, which he helped organize with the support of current Mayor Eric Adams. He has a base of support for working-class Black New Yorkers. And he has experience in attracting ultra-Orthodox Jewish voters to Borough Park, part of which he represented on the city council years earlier.

Maude Maron is a criminal defense attorney angling for Middle Lane in New York’s 10th. She has been a vocal critic of the left-wing movement for slashing law enforcement funding, the closure of New York City’s public schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, and consensus among liberals. gender is different by biological sex.

Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor and leading attorney for the House Democrats during the 2019 impeachment of then-President Donald Trump, is making his debut as a candidate for public office.

A resident of lower Manhattan, he is campaigning as a champion of voting rights and a staunch opponent of right-wing authoritarianism. Goldman’s race would test the staying power of stardom his impeachment work earned him along with the viewership of MSNBC and other liberal outlets.

Assemblywoman Joe Anne Simon has represented Brooklyn and several Brownstone-Brooklyn neighborhoods since 2015, New York’s 10th place. A disability civil rights advocate, she touts her work advocating for immigrant rights, expanded health care access, and stricter gun control. While she ran for Brooklyn borough president in 2021, she has a base of support in Brooklyn from which to build.

When Elizabeth Holtzman deposed 50-year-old incumbent Representative Emanuel Sellar in 1972, she was the youngest woman ever elected to Congress. After taking an active role in the investigation of then-President Richard Nixon’s Watergate scandal, she made history as Brooklyn’s first female district attorney and New York City’s first female comptroller.

Several decades later, Holtzman believes that his experience taking on Nixon prepares him to leave behind Trump and the authoritarian tendencies he has exposed.