City Council Member Christopher Marte (photo: William Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit)

Four Democratic candidates, including the incumbent, are running in the City Council District 1 primary election this year, set to culminate on June 27. One Republican contender has declared for the race as well, at this point ready to await the Democratic primary winner for the general election to follow in what is a heavily Democratic Lower Manhattan district.

All 51 City Council seats are on the ballot again this year, just two years after the prior election due to the decennial redistricting cycle after the

City Council Member Christoper Marte (photo: Gerardo Romo/NYC Council)

[Update: Less than 48 hours after the publication of this op-ed, Council Member Marte announced he had accepted Steven Wong's resignation]

It has been a month since a top aide to City Council Member Christopher Marte unleashed a vicious, misogynistic, profanity-laced verbal assault on one of the city’s most prominent and respected Chinese-language

Christopher Marte (top right), Jacqueline Toboroff (bottom left) & Maud Maron (bottom right)

Candidates for City Council District 1 (Lower Manhattan) met for a general election debate hosted by Manhattan Neighborhood Network and moderated by Gotham Gazette's Ben Max: Democratic nominee Christopher Marte; Republican nominee Jackie Toboroff; and Maud Maron, who will be on the Independent NY ballot line. Watch:

Council Member Margaret Chin and others (photo: Jeff Reed/City Council)

Nine Democratic candidates are running in the City Council District 1 primary for a seat based in Lower Manhattan. The district includes parts or all of Battery Park, the Civic Center, Chinatown, the Financial District, Little Italy, the Lower East Side, NoHo, SoHo, South Street Seaport, South Village, TriBeCa, and Washington Square. Governors Island, Ellis Island, and Liberty Island are also a part of the district.

The current City Council member, Margaret Chin, was elected

Outgoing City Council Member Margaret Chin (photo: John McCarten/City Council)

Although it’s a race to replace her, in some ways the Democratic primary in Manhattan’s City Council District 1 will be a test of term-limited Council Member Margaret Chin’s performance in office and political clout, as her current chief of staff will run to continue her legacy against multiple insurgent candidates who argue it’s time for a change, including one who narrowly lost a bid to unseat Chin in her 2017 reelection campaign.

Many of the most controversial issues

Amanda Litman (via @amandalitman)

Gripping two drinks, Amanda Litman, co-founder of a political action committee dedicated to helping young people run for office, arrived at a New York University classroom with a kick in her step. The 27-year-old political campaign veteran-turned-author walked in holding an iced coffee with soy milk and three Splendas in one hand and a tiny bottle of San Pellegrino water in the other.

“The quickest way to age is to work on a political campaign,” said Litman, former email director for