Assemblymember Joe Lentol (photo: @assemblymanjoe)

Emily Gallagher, a local community board member, is the first person in a decade to challenge New York State Assemblymember Joe Lentol, who has represented North Brooklyn’s 50th Assembly District for 48 years. Her rallying cry has been less to change the policy priorities of the district’s representative, and more to inject new blood into the Assembly, despite Lentol’s progressive track record.

While Gallagher has been amassing more support than is often typical of a primary challenger to a well-liked incumbent, Lentol is not prepared to cede his post.

The Democratic primary between the two will be decided this month, with early voting June 13-21, primary day June 23, and absentee balloting allowed for all eligible voters due to the governor’s coronavirus-inspired order.

Lentol, who has been influential in passing criminal justice legislation such as raising the age of adult responsibility, has also done much to provide green space for his district, which includes neighborhoods such as Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and part of Clinton Hill. The district, predominantly home to white residents, contains a mix of manufacturing and residential buildings as well as a lot of waterfront property, making it an attractive place for parks.

Lentol helped to pass the bill that created the East River Park, advocated for the buying of MTA-owned land to contribute to the building of Bushwick Inlet Park, and says he has spoken with the governor about including $7 million in the state budget to build the Kosciuszko Bridge Park.

Gallagher, who has lived in the district for 13 years and founded the Greenpoint Sexual Assault Task Force, said Lentol has not been active enough in pushing for significant, progressive change.

“We can’t have a democracy if it’s on autopilot,” Gallagher said in an interview. “Even if we’re comfortable with someone, if they’re nice, if they’re doing an OK job, we need to be having a conversation about what’s going on and what the future looks like. It is my view that we need a lot of grassroots energy, a lot of progressive energy and new fresh ideas and perspectives.”

Lentol pushed-back on the idea that he doesn’t pack a punch, or has slowed down in recent years, and said his efforts to advance progressive causes are both significant and current.

“I’ve probably passed more legislation, progressive legislation...Than may have ever been passed in the history of the State of New York,” Lentol said in an interview. “I did that in the last three years.”

Lentol was one of four lead sponsors of the 2019 New York State Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which requires the state to cut its greenhouse emission levels 85% by 2050 and is one of the most ambitious climate plans in the world.

The incumbent also highlighted some of his recent work during the coronavirus pandemic, including legislation to suspend the euthanizing of cats and dogs, create an emergency pandemic plan for nursing homes, and start a compassionate companion program that would have those who may be immune to COVID-19 care for elderly patients infected with the virus who may otherwise have to die alone.

He also cosponsored legislation to support renters impacted by the pandemic that, while creating a $100 million relief fund, was hailed as too little by many state legislators (including plenty who voted for it), and by his opponent. The voucher program requires that to qualify for the money a person has to be rent-burdened, able to prove loss of income since March 7, and make 80% or less of an area's median income.

“A means-tested, federal-funded rent-voucher system...that’s going to leave so many people out, and it’s going to leave out actually the most vulnerable populations,” said Gallagher, who has made housing one of the two top issues of her campaign, with a focus on renters, along with climate change.

Lentol said it was a practical way of providing support to those in need.

“You can’t ‘cancel rent’ and expect landlords to be able to upkeep their buildings, especially in a district like mine that doesn’t have a lot of large buildings, has a lot of small homeowners,” Lentol said. “What [Gallagher]’s only saying is I haven’t advocated for a free rent program that’s never going to pass, and that’s probably correct. I haven’t advocated strongly for that because I’m smart enough to know that if the people who are sponsoring it aren’t advocating for it, who is?”

Lentol said nonprofits, including ones in Brooklyn that advocate for tenants’ rights such as St. Nicks and Los Sures, also need money they get as landlords so “the tenants that they help can survive and so they can survive.”

Gallagher was formerly a co-chair of a nonprofit herself, called Neighbors Allied for Good Growth, which fought to create new parkland, protect Greenpoint’s waterfront, and preserve rent stabilized housing. In 2016, she ran for District Leader in the 50th Assembly District, but narrowly lost. She had been approached to run by members of the New Kings Democrats, who are currently endorsing her along with political clubs and groups Our Progressive Future, Brooklyn Young Democrats, True Blue New York, Citizens Union, and NY Communities For Change.

She also received an endorsement on Monday from prominent progressive Zephyr Teachout, a law professor and former candidate for governor, Congress, and attorney general.

“I support Emily because I support gig workers, renters, police reform and transformational change in Albany,” Teachout said in a press release. “Joe Lentol isn't going to shake up Albany after 48 years there, and he’s told us so — he refused to support the call for sexual harassment hearings when victims asked for it. Lyft is spending money to re-elect him for a reason — he's not going to fight for gig worker rights. And Emily is brainy, fearless, and awesome.”

Teachout was referring to Lentol’s support from New Yorkers For Independent Work, a political action committee set up by Lyft to spend $1.1 million on New York State Elections. 

Gallagher, like Teachout, has criticized Lentol’s fundraising habits. While she has only raised $60,000 during the election cycle as of the most recent filing period, it has been through 600 individual transactions. Lentol had raised over $410,000, with most of what was raised during this election cycle coming from political action committees of labor unions and entities.

“The money is coming from very different sources,” Gallagher said. “It says a lot about who your audience is.”

Lentol maintains that he did not actively fundraise due to the fact that he had money leftover from past campaigns.

“I’ve raised some money before this primary that a lot of it came from different sized donors, that’s true. But I can honestly tell you that there haven’t been huge contributions,” Lentol said. “I have not focused on raising, especially during a pandemic, from people who can’t afford to give me money...I could raise money from people who know me, I’ve got a lot of friends in my district that would be willing to give to my campaign, but I haven’t asked them for money.”

Lentol has his own key progressive endorsement from the Working Families Party. He’s also been endorsed by Assemblymembers Jo Anne Simon and Dan Quart, and City Council Member Stephen Levin, who represents Greenpoint and Williamsburg. He’s also union-backed, and has received endorsements from the New York State and City teachers’ unions, the state nurses union, the 32BJ chapter of the Service Employees International Union, the Laborer’s International Union of North America, and many more.

Lentol’s support in his district and his past legislative successes make some question why Gallagher is running against him from the left. Lupe Todd-Medina, who consults on other Assembly races this cycle, believes Gallagher doesn’t have a strong justification for running and thinking she can win.

“Nobody’s criticizing the work that Joe Lentol did, they just are saying ‘it’s time to bring in younger blood,’ that’s what they really want to say. I don’t know if that’s valid, I don’t know if that’s a good enough answer,” Todd-Medina said in an interview. “This is someone who has fought, fought for rights, fought for all, fought to get us to where we are now. Now that we’re here, is it fair to now tell him ‘Go,’?”

A CUNY campus in the Bronx (photo: Bronx Community College)

CUNY, New York City's public university system, is facing a crisis within a crisis, as it looks at expected budget cuts while supporting students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds, through a pandemic and its fallout, including vanishing economic opportunity.

Intended as a pathway to upward mobility for city residents, many of its students are from the same populations most severely hit by the pandemic and face some of the most immediate difficulties posed by COVID-19 -- food, housing, and financial insecurity. Yet, at the same time that students need additional support, city and state fiscal uncertainty makes it difficult for the university to address new needs on top of old ones. As CUNY's budget contracts and cuts are made, the hardships are also reverberating among the system's adjunct and support staff, many of whom are often just barely getting by.

COVID-19 has hit CUNY students hard and from all sides, according to the students, administrators, and advocates who testified Wednesday at a remote oversight hearing held by the New York City Council’s Committee on Higher Education, its first hearing since the pandemic began.

Many students have lost jobs and housing, they said. Some have moved into shelters or crowded living situations while struggling to adapt to the new frontier of remote learning. Others have had to take on child care responsibilities, or elder care related to COVID-19, with little support navigating the aid and services available through the university and other government agencies. Many report having gone hungry at some point during the course of their studies.

"These issues that emerged as CUNY went online go beyond simply ensuring laptops and internet access," said Melanie Kruvelis, senior policy manager at Young Invincibles, a student advocacy group. "These are intersectional issues that underscore which students are able to access higher ed, and those who are left behind to figure it out for themselves."

Administrators have made efforts to soften the impact of the virus on students as education moved online, but students say a lack of coordination around available services often leaves them on their own. Fears of a tuition hike are high.

CUNY has roughly 550,000 students between its degree and continuing education programs across dozens of community colleges, senior colleges, graduate schools, and research centers, according to a report prepared by the New York City Council. Executive Vice Chancellor and University Provost José Luis Cruz told the committee that recent student polling suggests that during the crisis nearly 40 percent lost their jobs, roughly 18 percent have gone hungry, and 55 percent face housing insecurity.

Even before the pandemic, more than 40 percent of students made less than $20,000 per year and nearly half were first generation college students, according to the Council's report, which cited a 2016 student survey. About 1 in 10 CUNY students was a parent or single parent caring for a child.

The university has distributed roughly $110 million in financial aid to students, largely through the federal CARES Act, since the state of emergency. About $107 million of CARES funding has been distributed directly to eligible students in emergency grants, according to Senior Vice Chancellor and CFO Matthew Sapienza, with another $11 million yet to be provided. The average grant is $600, with an allocation formula based on financial need and whether a student has dependents, the administrators say. Another $2 million from the Chancellor's Emergency Relief Grant Program has gone to 4,000 students in $500 one-time payments to undocumented and other students who do not qualify for CARES funding.

Sapienza and Cruz also reported that the university has distributed the entire $1 million announced in December by Council Speaker Corey Johnson and CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez as part of a pilot program to combat food insecurity among low-income students, with a specific focus on Dreamers and DACA recipients.

But for many students, including those who are unaware of or ineligible for these programs, the grants are a drop in a lake-sized financial hole. The one-off grants may also be (at least partially) offset by a proposed tuition hike of $200, which CUNY administrators are seeking.

"How could we even think of raising the tuition at this moment when these students are losing their jobs, are homeless," asked Ali Haider Hassan, a vice chair of the University Student Senate (USS), at the City Council Wednesday. "Many students have to finish paying off this past semester's tuition and have to save for next semester while also worrying about an increase."

Timothy Hunter, chair of the USS, pointed out that many students who did not lose jobs are frontline workers, having to navigate academic life, social services, and a deadly epidemic simultaneously.

The students are seeking a $16 million allocation to cover a tuition freeze. Several students suggested the funding come from the NYPD's $5.9 billion budget.

Only Council Member Inez Barron, a Brooklyn Democrat and chair of the committee, made remarks or asked questions of the panelists. A few other Council members were announced as on the line, but never appeared on the video or spoke during the hearing.

In response to Barron’s questions, Sapienza said the final say on tuition will come down to CUNY's overall budget outlook, which must factor in public funding, including future federal aid, enrollment levels, fundraising, and the needs of campus operations. "All of those things will be taken into consideration. We very much take tuition increases very seriously," he said, pointing out that two-thirds of CUNY undergraduates attend college tuition-free through various grant and scholarship programs already in place.

In the current academic year, CUNY's budget was roughly $3.7 billion, of which 53 percent came from New York State aid, and another 20 percent from student tuition, 14 percent from New York City, and 8 percent from the federal government. As the city faces a tax revenue shortfall of almost $10 billion, Mayor Bill de Blasio has proposed $31.6 million in cuts to CUNY funding in the next fiscal year, according to a CUNY official.

To help transition to distance learning, the CUNY administration has distributed 30,000 laptops or tablets to students and implemented an optional credit/no-credit grading system for the spring 2020 semester. "Still even as CUNY adapted to this digital environment, we know many students entered the semester without adequate internet access," said Kruvelis of Young Invincibles during her testimony. That includes homeless students who make up 14 percent of the CUNY student body, she said.

Kruvelis noted that the university has worked to increase its food pantries and "single-stop services." She said these efforts have helped, but without concerted wrap-around support, needs will continue to go unmet and academic performance will slip. "It's time to step up coordination and communication of these services. We need to see digital CUNY-wide platforms that connect students to basic needs assistance. We need CUNY-wide campaigns aimed at enrolling eligible students SNAP, Medicaid, and other services. And we also need CUNY to keep an eye on the rising housing insecurity students face," she said.

One student, Gregory Reyes, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic and is enrolled at Lehman College, told the Council the technology CUNY provided was not adequate for his major in digital design and he was forced to take the credit/no-credit option for those courses, despite receiving high grades in others. One of the programs that helped him get into college in the first place is College Now, which allows high school students to take college courses, and which is facing serious budget reductions. (Several of the students who testified spoke in support of the program.)

Despite the uncertainty around learning in the next academic year, enrollment projections for the summer and fall semesters are cause for hope, Cruz told the committee. CUNY is projecting a 16 percent increase in summer enrollment despite classes being entirely online. Cruz said enrollment in the fall could drop by 4.4 percent, but that this projection does not include many campuses that have yet to announce their numbers. While it does expect an overall reduction in enrollment, Cruz said the projection was not as bad as other higher education institutions. CUNY has yet to determine the balance between online and in-person classes for the fall.

As Gotham Gazette previously reported, with budget cuts on the horizon, CUNY is eying a reduction in course offerings, which also means cutting the hours of adjunct professors and continuing education teachers, in some cases to zero. Some campuses are planning course reductions of 25 to 35 percent.

"In a moment where New Yorkers, especially those who have borne the biggest cost of the pandemic, will be for new education and new skills to the city university in ways that they may never have needed before -- that's exactly the moment for new investment, not for cuts and layoffs," testified Barbara Bowden, president of the Professional Staff Congress, which represents 25,000 CUNY faculty and staff, according to its website.

"If there is going to be redirection of funding for New York City, and we hope there will be, some of that funding must go to CUNY," she said of city budget discussions.

In addition to funding for direct student aid, CUNY has received an additional $118 million in CARES Act funding for campus operations related to the pandemic. When Council Member Barron asked how much of that could go to employees' salaries, including the teaching staff, Sapienza said federal criteria limited the spending to teachers' training related to remote learning.

"It cannot be used just for gap-closing activities or to cover a budget shortfall. There are specific uses that are outlined by the U.S. Department of Education," he told Barron.

When it came time for her testimony, Bowden disagreed: "The CARES Act also includes a provision for keeping employees on payroll. Employees should be kept on payroll if they receive CARES Act money."

Assemblymember Simotas, right (photo: @AravellaSimotas)

Since Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s historic campaign to win her 2018 primary against incumbent Democrat Joe Crowley, many progressive challengers have tried to use her playbook: a grassroots campaign with an uber-progressive platform where a candidate makes up for what they lack in political experience with robust canvassing and a promise of change.

And in Queens’ 36th Assembly District, which includes most of Astoria and all of Ditmars Steinway and overlaps somewhat with Ocasio-Cortez’s 14th Congressional District, housing counselor Zohran Mamdani hopes to pull off an upset against incumbent Aravella Simotas in this month’s Democratic primary. But while Mamdani has some momentum, Simotas has key differences from Crowley: her many progressive bonafides and reputation as a present and engaged representative. Yet Mamdani, who is running with the support of the New York City branch of the Democratic Socialists of America (NYC DSA), says Simotas simply hasn’t been active enough to protect her constituents, especially with regard to housing and education.

For example, Mamdani has criticized Simotas’ vote in favor of a 2015 state budget package that tied teacher evaluations to state test scores. However, Simotas also co-sponsored legislation in 2019 to remove that very requirement. Simotas has similarly supported and sponsored other progressive legislation in line with Mamdani’s own platform, though he continues to argue the district needs a more aggressively progressive representative to push the envelope further on issues like housing costs and school segregation.

Simotas has appeared to take note of the challenge from her left, and has gotten more vocal on topics like ‘canceling rent’ amid the coronavirus crisis that has ravaged New York. She’s also touting her record from well before her challenger emerged.

“I’m proud that I introduced and passed in one year a bill to expand and strengthen worker rights and protect against harassment and discrimination in the workplace,” Simotas said in an interview of legislation from 2019. “And it’s unheard of to do such a monumental bill where there were vast business interests against in one year.”

Now in her fifth two-year term, Simotas has co-sponsored legislation like the Green Light Bill, which allowed undocumented New Yorkers to obtain a driver’s license, and the Reproductive Health Act, which codified Roe v. Wade abortion protections into state law. She also supports the legalization of recreational marijuana and single-payer health-care in New York, two pieces of progressive legislation that have been held up despite Democratic control of both state legislative houses and the governor’s office.

Simotas has been endorsed by many state officials, including Queens State Senator John Liu and Queens Assemblymember Catalina Cruz, as well as a large number of unions and clubs, such as a local chapter of the United Food and Commercial Workers union, the United Federation of Teachers, the New York Nurses Association, and a local transportation workers union, among others. Notably, a number of Simotas' legislative colleagues from Queens, such as State Senators Michael Gianaris and Jessica Ramos, have not announced support for her campaign.

Mamdani, a 29-year-old Indian American who came to New York at the age of seven from Uganda, has been endorsed by former public defender and candidate for Queens District Attorney Tiffany Cabán, actor and former gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, and State Senator Julia Salazar of Brooklyn, all three of whom have been backed by the NYC DSA in recent election cycles. He also has the backing of the Muslim Democratic Club of New York, New York Communities for Change, and other groups.

Mamdani argues Simotas has underperformed, specifically, he says the incumbent hasn’t done enough for renters and homeowners in the district, which has rapidly gentrified in recent years. The area has continued to see major development and rising housing costs.

“Seeing my work in foreclosure prevention, I’ve seen how so many people, so many working-class New Yorkers...are having their homes and the ownership of their homes or their residency put in question by their landlords or big banks or servicers,” Mamdani said in an interview. “The reason that I’m running is in my work and in my life, I have seen how the State has abdicated its role in ensuring that every single New Yorker can not only feel at home in this state, but can also have a home.”

Nearly 40% of households in the district are rent-burdened, a high number that is still slightly lower than Queens and New York City averages. Demographically, the district is about 47% white, 27% Hispanic, 16% Asian, and 7% black, according to Department of City Planning data on Queens Community District 1, which largely overlaps with Assembly District 36. According to NYU’s Furman Center, Astoria has been among the city’s most gentrified neighborhoods of this century.

Mamdani, who is Muslim, has done outreach to Muslim communities within the district through a mutual aid initiative that provided over 12,750 meals during Ramadan, according to his campaign. Simotas, meanwhile, has a large amount of support from the Greek community, reflective of her ancestry — her parents immigrated from Greece.

Doug Forand, a political consultant who runs Red Horse Strategies, which is working on other races this cycle, said Mamdani would need support from younger, newer residents of the neighborhood if he were to pull off an upset. But those residents, Forand said, seem to be just as likely to support Simotas.

“I don’t think [Simotas’] opponent has made a strong case for why she should not be in office,” Forand said. “That’s another district where you’ve seen a fair amount of gentrification and economic turnover, but at the same time I think it’s one of those places where the local legislators have sort-of recognized that the nature of their constituency is changing and they have responded appropriately.”

Even longer-time residents of the district, some who might consider themselves “victims of gentrification,” as Forand put it, elected Simotas in the first place and don’t appear ready to abandon “electeds they know and have worked with for years.”

Still, Mamdani has tried to make the argument that Simotas has not done enough to fight gentrification and overdevelopment in the area. Real estate interests and their influence in politics through campaign donations exacerbate these issues, Mamdani said, while pointing to Simotas’ coffers. He cited donations she’s received such as roughly $10,000 from George Tsunis, a developer and head of Chartwell Hotels, and his wife. Mamdani also cited an additional $1,000 donation from Irene Feggoudakis, whose family owns over a dozen residential buildings, all of which are in neighboring Queens districts. Both Tsunis and Feggoudakis are of Greek heritage like Simotas, who has organized in the Greek community.

Overall, Simotas has raised about $220,000 during the two-year election cycle through about 260 donations, including more than $64,000 from labor union political action committees and other PACs (facing pressure amid recent scrutiny of police brutality, she recently said she would give away donations from law enforcement unions). Mamdani has raised about $120,000 through over 3,500 individual transactions, a very large number for an Assembly campaign, according to State Board of Elections records.

“I certainly raised small amounts of money from homeowners who rent out an apartment in their house in order to afford Astoria and I will do my best to help them, just like I fight as hard as I can to help tenants,” Simotas said, before going on to restate then qualify her pledge about real estate donations. “I pledged not to take real estate money and I have kept that pledge. I have not raised a single cent from developers or landlords who are building luxury housing and make the city unlivable for so many.”

In a statement, Mamdani argued the donations mean Simotas broke her Homes Guarantee pledge to reject developer and real estate money.

“Assemblymember Simotas signed a pledge to ‘reject any developer and real estate contributions,’” Mamdani said in the statement. “Now, she claims that commercial real estate developers don't count — and neither do residential real estate developers if she knows them personally. This is exactly the type of double-talk that makes ordinary people hate politicians.”

Simotas does have a history of supporting pro-tenant legislation and policy. She supported the sweeping tenant protection laws passed last year dealing with roughly 1 million rent stabilized apartments. She also was against the Amazon ‘HQ2’ deal, which would have brought a massive new Amazon campus and thousands of jobs to Long Island City (just outside her district), but several groups opposed due to fears of rising prices and more long-time residents being pushed out of the nearby communities.

More recently, Simotas said she fought to “cancel rent” in recent legislative conference discussions as many New Yorkers who are newly unemployed, facing medical bills, or otherwise struggling financially, have had a hard time paying rent due to the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout. The legislation would apply to renters impacted by the financial impact of the coronavirus recession, and also provide for landlords who would lose rental income.

“Affordable housing was what allowed my family to claw their way up to the middle-class, so I am very sensitive to people who are now concerned about paying rent,” said Simotas, who said she grew up in the living room of her parents’ rent-stabilized apartment. “I’m fighting very hard, as hard as I can, to cancel rent.”

But the Legislature has not passed the rent cancellation bill, the charge for which has been led in the State Senate by Gianaris. Instead a bill was approved that would provide $100 million in relief to renters through vouchers. To qualify for a voucher, a person will have to be at a certain income level, rent-burdened, and be able to prove loss of income since March 7. Simotas voted against the bill.

“I’m very passionate about making sure that renters in my community, and throughout the state, don’t have to deal with additional anxiety, we’re already dealing with a massive, unprecedented in our lifetime, health crisis. People shouldn’t have to worry about paying rent, so I was disappointed,” Simotas said. “I didn’t think we went far enough.”

Like other policy areas, Mamdani’s views seem to be in line with Simotas’.

“This legislation isn't about protecting tenants, it's about bailing out landlords. It locks millions of tenants out of real relief with a preposterous means-testing formula, putting New Yorkers across the state at risk of eviction,” Mamdani said in a statement. “New Yorkers need a universal rent and mortgage holiday for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis, with no back payments due later.”

But, Mamdani still sees Simotas as complicit in legislation passed by Albany, like the rent voucher bill, which he says are  failures. Simotas, meanwhile, believes she’s done what her constituents sent her to Albany to do.

“I’ve worked very hard in Albany to write and pass progressive legislation that makes a difference in people’s lives,” Simotas said. “That’s who I am.”

Note: this article has been updated to note that Simotas has not been endorsed by Senators Gianaris and Ramos.

Left to right: Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Suraj Patel, Pete Harrison, Lauren Ashcraft

The Democratic primary in New York's 12th Congressional District features incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney and three challengers: Suraj Patel, Peter Harrison, and Lauren Ashcraft. All four candidates were set to debate Monday night, but Maloney canceled the day of the debate due to illness. Her three challengers met to discuss a variety of issues and strategies in a debate hosted by Empire State Indivisible and moderated by Gotham Gazette's Ben Max. Watch the debate below.

All Democratic voters who live in the 12th CD, which includes parts of Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn are eligible to vote in this month's primary: early voting is June 13-21, primary day is June 23, and all are eligible to vote absentee by gubernatorial order due to the coronavirus.

Watch Patel, Harrison, and Ashcraft debate:

Left to right: Yvette Clarke, Adem Bunkeddeko, Isiah James, and Lutchi Gayot

Representative Yvette Clarke is facing four challengers in this month's Democratic primary in New York's 9th Congressional District, which includes a large swathe of central and southern Brooklyn. Clarke and three of those opponents -- Adem Bunkeddeko, Isiah James, and Luchi Gayot -- met for a virtual debate on the evening of Sunday, June 7. The debate was hosted by South Central Brooklyn United for Progress; Pakastini American Youth Society; Brooklyn Movement Center; and Greater Prospect Heights Mutual Aid; and moderated by Gotham Gazette editor Ben Max. The fifth candidate in the race, City Council Member Chaim Deutsch, declined the invitation to debate.

Voting in this primary is only open to Democratic voters of the district. Primary day is June 23; early voting is June 13-21; and all voters are eligible to vote absentee by gubernatorial order in light of the pandemic.

Watch the NY-9 debate:

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Assemblymember Michael DenDekker (photo: @mgdendekker)

A Queens State Assembly member faces stiff competition this primary election cycle, and for the first time in his 12-year legislative career.

Assemblymember Michael DenDekker, who represents parts of Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst and Woodside in Assembly District 34, is aiming to survive four Democratic challengers for his seat in this month’s party primary election. The race follows a larger trend that accelerated in 2018, with one or more challengers running from the left, and often promising to bring more diversity to government, against a more moderate Democratic incumbent.

DenDekker’s challengers include former Manhattan prosecutor and local civic leader Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo; former National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health Executive Director Jessica González-Rojas; Uber driver and organizer Joy Chowdhury; and Angel Cruz. Out of the four, Cruz is the only candidate who has not raised any money or spent any money in the campaign, according to New York State Board of Elections data.

While primary day is June 23, early voting will take place June 13-21, and because of the coronavirus pandemic, the governor has ordered all voters eligible to vote by absentee ballot.

The district is one of the most diverse areas in the country, and some of the most important national issues of this election year — the pandemic, police accountability, immigration, access to health care and social services — impact residents in very personal ways.

Over half of the district’s 114,500 residents are Hispanic, and over a quarter are Asian, according to the most recent American Community Survey data. Meanwhile, over 60 percent of the district’s residents were born outside of the United States, and its neighborhoods have large immigrant communities from countries in South America and South Asia.

COVID-19 hit the neighborhoods in District 34 especially hard. Central Queens, dubbed “the epicenter of the epicenter,” has become synonymous with the toll the virus has wrought on New York City, where well over 21,000 people have died of the virus. During the height of the pandemic, one-third all of COVID-19 patients were from Queens.

The pandemic completely changed the dynamic of this year’s elections, as candidates put campaigning on pause to funnel their efforts into supporting the community in more immediate, tangible ways. 

Soon after the virus took hold in New York, González-Rojas morphed her campaign to assist residents during the pandemic, delivering groceries, medicine, and supplies to those in need. 

“We’ve shifted to doing a community aid effort,” she said in an interview.

González-Rojas, backed by the Working Families Party, is the progressive choice to beat DenDekker, with a platform addressing housing, LGBTQ rights, police accountability, and immigrant and environmental justice. Some of her proposals include free tuition for students at the City University of New York, universal health care, defending state bail reforms that were recently partially rolled back, stronger protections for renters, and limiting Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s power in New York.

“I’m the only candidate with a specific progressive record,” González-Rojas said, noting that she was progressive “before progressive was cool.” 

González-Rojas was also endorsed by former Queens District Attorney candidate Tiffany Cabán, who brought progressive policies to the forefront of her race last year. González-Rojas, O’Doherty-Naranjo, and Chowdhury all volunteered with Cabán during her campaign.

González-Rojas is also backed by local Queens City Council Member Daniel Dromm, Bronx State Senator Gustavo Rivera, NY Communities for Change, and a host of other progressive and grassroots political groups. 

She is of Paraguayan and Puerto Rican descent, and underscored the need for a person of color to represent a district that is home to a majority of people of color. “Folks have never seen anyone that looks like them in this race before,” she said. 

González-Rojas raised around $125,500 in contributions during this election cycle, and had around $27,000 on hand as of May 22, according to BOE records.

To fight the coronavirus, O’Doherty-Naranjo started a mutual aid network in Jackson Heights, called the COVID Care Neighborhood Network. Separate from the campaign, COVID Care has around-the-clock volunteers who help connect residents to services and assistance during the pandemic. O’Doherty-Naranjo said she has raised $40,000 to go toward COVID Care rather than toward her election, and that she knows she’s running an unconventional campaign.

“Who knew most of my time campaigning would be finding sources of tomatoes and toothpaste and toilet paper,” she said in an interview.

O’Doherty-Naranjo was the first person in her family born in the United States, according to her website. She was active in the district prior to COVID-19, serving as president of local civic organization, the Jackson Heights Beautification Group. Her platform focuses on funding schools, universal health care, safer streets, and better public transportation. This includes reducing class sizes, improving bus service, and heightening traffic safety through better lighting, shorter crossings, and more low speed zones and raised pedestrian crossings.

O’Doherty-Naranjo raised around $39,000 in contributions over the course of the election, and had over $32,000 on hand as of May 22, according to BOE records.

Chowdhury said that he stopped his campaign for a couple of months during the pandemic to help establish the Queens Mutual Aid Network and deliver food to residents in need. An Uber driver, Chowdhury advocates for gig economy workers’ rights, as well as immigrant rights, affordable housing, universal health care, and free tuition to public colleges.

If elected, Chowdhury would be one of only a few South Asian legislators in the state. People of South Asian descent are severely underrepresented in city and state politics, with no South Asians from New York City currently serving in the state Legislature. The first Indian-American to serve in the State Senate, Kevin Thomas, was only elected in 2018.

“We don’t have a single South Asian elected,” Chowdhury’s Communications Director Raihan Faroqui said in an interview. “It’s about time. If not there [in this district], then where?”

Chowdhury raised around $77,000 throughout the election, and had almost $38,000 on hand as of May 22, according to BOE records.

DenDekker, who was first elected to the Assembly in 2008, said that his campaign has largely been on pause since March because of the coronavirus pandemic. Instead he has shifted to providing “much-needed” food and supplies to his constituents, he said.

“The need has been overwhelming,” he said in an email interview.

If re-elected, DenDekker said that he is most focused on the major financial impact coronavirus will have on the state budget.

“New revenue must be sought: taxing wealthy and ultra-wealthy New Yorkers, the pied-à-terre tax, marijuana legalization, expanding casino gambling to New York City, online sports betting, and a stock transfer tax should all be implemented,” he said, as the state faces billions in lost tax revenue due to the economic shutdown ordered to support public health efforts.

DenDekker is endorsed by the powerful unions the United Federation of Teachers and 32BJ SEIU, as well as the New York League of Conservation Voters and the Stonewall Democrats of New York City.

This past week, DenDekker drew fire from influential immigrants’ rights group Make the Road New York for taking campaign contributions from law enforcement PACs, as well as not taking decisive enough action to address police accountability. The criticism comes during a nationwide movement to demand an end to police brutality, sparked by the death of George Floyd, a black Minnesota man, at the hands of Minneapolis police officers.

Hundreds marched to DenDekker’s office on June 3 to demand the Assembly member take more action against police brutality. Make the Road Action, the political action arm of Make the Road, endorsed González-Rojas in the primary race.

The same day as the march, DenDekker pledged to give $13,000 of campaign contributions he received from police organizations to local community groups.

Additionally, he has signed on to be a co-sponsor on the bill to repeal 50-a, a state civil rights law that allows records of police misconduct to be hidden from the public and appears to be on the chopping block this week in Albany.

“Police brutality must be prosecuted,” DenDekker told Gotham Gazette. “We have to completely change the directives and policies from the top down. We need police agencies to require that officers report their fellow officers if those individuals are corrupt, racist, disrespectful, or brutalizing the individuals there are sworn to protect. We need an independent commission or board to review all claims of police officers abusing their positions.”

DenDekker raised around $179,500 during 2019 and 2020 for his campaign, and had around $65,000 on hand as of May 22, according to BOE records.

Left to right: Tremaine Wright, Jason Salmon, Jabari Brisport

Brooklyn State Senator Velmanette Montgomery’s January retirement announcement created an opening for a coveted seat in the upper house of the State Legislature, leading to a fierce Democratic primary that is set to be decided this month.

Given the overwhelming Democratic enrollment advantage in the 25th State Senate District, where Montgomery has been the senator since 1985, the primary winner is all but certain to become one of 63 state senators in the state. The district is a diverse constituency where 46% are black, 27% white, 17% Latino, and 5% Asian, according to census data.

Two upstart candidates, Jabari Brisport and Jason Salmon, were already running to unseat Montgomery at the time of her announcement. Assemblymember Tremaine Wright, who represents a partially overlapping Assembly District 56, declared her candidacy for the Senate seat shortly after Montgomery’s announcement and received the retiring senator’s endorsement. Both Montgomery and Wright are black women; Brisport is a black man; and Salmon is a biracial (black and white) man. Additionally, if elected Brisport would be the first queer person of color in the State Legislature.

The Senate district includes parts or all of Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Red Hook, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Sunset Park, Gowanus, and Park Slope. It is home to some of the wealthiest and poorest neighborhoods in Brooklyn, if not the city.

Along with Montgomery’s, the endorsements have continued to flow in for Wright, who occupies a quasi-incumbent status in the race, as the only elected official in the running and from an overlapping district, in Bedford-Stuyvesant. She has been in the Assembly since 2017 and, in addition to the backing of the retiring incumbent, has the support of the Brooklyn Democratic Party and most elected officials in the borough.

In an interview, Wright touted the CROWN Act, which prohibits discrimination based on natural hairstyles or traits associated with race, and workplace antidiscrimination rules, passed in last year’s state budget as among her proudest legislative accomplishments. 

But Wright appears to have a more challenging path to the Democratic nomination than others in a similar situation may find themselves given the rest of the field and the support that her opponents have been accruing.

When asked by Gotham Gazette about her status as the “establishment” candidate, Wright said, “I doubt that the voters in the 25th Senate District will characterize dedication, consistent service, and a commitment to community empowerment as a deficiency.” She said that she is “the only candidate in this race that has a record of leadership, commitment and experience.”

In an apparent reference to her opponents, Wright said, “it is useless to simply identify problems. I am focused on finding solutions.”

The two candidates running against her in the Democratic primary would of course disagree with her assessment of their campaigns.

Brisport is a political activist, math teacher, and former Green Party nominee for City Council in 2017 (he lost to incumbent Council Member Laurie Cumbo as she won reelection). He is part of a slate of candidates running for the State Legislature this year backed by the Democratic Socialists of America -- the New York Post wrote he “could be the next AOC.”

In his 2017 City Council race, Brisport earned 29% of the general election vote in a district that shares many of the same neighborhoods as Senate District 25, including Fort Greene and Bedford Stuyvesant, as well as Clinton Hill, Crown Heights, and Prospect Heights.

His campaign platform should be familiar to those who have followed the rises of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) of the Bronx and Queens and Brooklyn State Senator Julia Salazar. In an interview with Gotham Gazette, he said he supports “a safe home for everyone, free and quality health care, strengthening unions and workers’ rights, fully funded schools, a Green New Deal in New York, and so much more” and he argues all of this can be accomplished through increased taxes on the wealthy and “standing up to corporate interests.”

As such, Brisport supports the New York Health Act, which would institute a universal public health insurance system, and a 2030 target for net-zero carbon emissions in the state. He believes that rent should be cancelled during the Covid-19 pandemic and supports Sen. Salazar’s Good Cause Eviction bill. He has also voiced support for the No New Jails pledge, promising to oppose the construct of any new prison facilities.

Salmon is a political activist and former aide to Senator Montgomery, having served as a community liaison in her office. He has been endorsed by Brooklyn City Council Member Carlos Menchaca, whose Council district has some overlap with the western portion of the 25th Senate District. Salmon bills himself as a practical progressive, highlighting his “dual-lens” as both a community organizer for police accountability and legislative staffer. He said the latter position gave him “an up-close-and-personal look as to how our political system is fundamentally flawed.”

Salmon has made criminal justice reform the centerpiece of his campaign, decrying the fact that “not a single police reform bill made it out of committee” in the last session, even amidst a wave of progressive legislation. In an interview, he said “police hand out masks in affluent, white neighborhoods; they issue summons in low-income communities of color.”

Salmon’s platform, per his campaign website, is heavily focused on criminal justice reform. He advocates defunding the police by requiring that all funding for law enforcement is matched by funding for community-based alternatives and restorative justice programs. He would also ban the use of deadly force by police “except when necessary to protect human life and only after all other non-lethal options have been exhausted” and require the NYPD report racial impact data.

Both Brisport and Salmon are part of a wave of younger candidates talking about generational change, and trying to appeal to younger voters with platforms more aligned with Bernie Sanders than Joe Biden. Perhaps helpful to their chances, the presidential primary is back on the ballot in New York this month after a legal battle, which could drive more Sanders supporters to the polls. There are also a host of state legislative and congressional races across the city and state, among others.

The two are also framing their candidacies as anti-establishment, while Wright is part of that establishment as a sitting elected official not known for outlier views among the Assembly majority Democratic conference, though she has only held her seat for three-and-a-half years. Before she was a legislator, Wright served for fourteen years on her local community board, including three as chair. She is a lawyer and owned a local coffee house.

Brisport sees himself as the outsider candidate who can galvanize progressives, saying it boils down to “a movement versus the machine” and “I think that separates us from the other candidates.” He asserts that in this race he is the only candidate who “won’t have to rely on special interests or unsavory political compromises to get things done in Albany.”

Brisport points to his fundraising abilities in support of this argument. He had raised $128,660 during this campaign and had $89,138 cash-on-hand as of his 32-day pre-primary report filed in late May. His campaign boasts that “nearly 700 residents of District 25 have donated to our campaign,” in addition to having “over a thousand” volunteers participate.

His fundraising haul is more than double the $58,500 that Wright had raised in the campaign as of her most recent filing. She also has about half as much in her campaign account as of the filing, $44,539. Salmon has nearly equaled the Assembly member’s fundraising, having collected $57,500 in contributions during the campaign, and had $27,503 on hand as of they end of May.

However, Brisport’s claim to the status of progressive outsider is complicated by Salmon, and vice versa, as Salmon says he has “spent my career fighting for this entire district,” from “organizing tenants on the verge of eviction in Bed-Stuy…to delivering meals to our food-insecure neighbors in NYCHA during this crisis.”

Brisport touts his endorsements from the aforementioned Senator Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, State Senator Julia Salazar, the Democratic Socialists of America, the Working Families Party, New York Communities for Change, and Our Revolution.

Council Member Menchaca, who represents Red Hook and Sunset Park, said in a statement to Gotham Gazette explaining his endorsement of Salmon, “the political machines are battling out the politics of the race but Jason is just focused on what is right for Red Hook and the district.” Salmon’s other endorsements include the Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, the Stonewall Democrats, UAW Region 9A, and local pastor Rev. Anthony Trufant.

Wright has the endorsements of Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, in addition to eight State Senators, nine other Assembly members, two City Council members, and two members of Congress. She also has the endorsements of several labor unions and community groups.

The per capita income in the 25th State Senate District is about $40,000, slightly higher than the state average, but the poverty rate is 21.6%, compared to the statewide poverty rate of 14.6%. The district has a median household income of $61,165, nearly on par with the state as a whole, but that number hides a huge variation among neighborhoods.

In Boerum Hill, for example, the median household income is $128,274, while in Bedford-Stuyvesant it’s $53,971. The neighborhoods in the district also vary widely in terms of diversity. White residents make up 61% of Boerum Hill and 21% of Bedford-Stuyvesant; black residents comprise 10% of Boerum Hill and 52% of Bedford-Stuvesant.

A 2019 report from Urban Displacement Project at UC-Berkeley, which “analyzed regional data on housing, income, and other demographics to better understand and predict where gentrification and displacement is happening and will likely occur in the future,” found that much of the western section of the 25th Senate District, in neighborhoods such as Park Slope and Boerum Hill, has already experienced high levels of displacement of low-income households, which is their measure of gentrification. However, in the eastern section, namely parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, the report says some census tracts are currently undergoing displacement of low-income households, while others have not yet seen widespread displacement.

Wright’s Assembly district covers most of that eastern section, grounded in Bedford-Stuyvesant. While there is sizable overlap between AD-56 and SD-25, there are important variations between the demographic makeups of each district. In the 56th Assembly District, 63% of residents are black, whereas 46% of residents are black in the 25th Senate District. The median household income in AD-56 is $45,300, compared to $61,165 in SD-25.

In his 2017 race, Brisport’s 29% was the second-best showing by a third-party candidate in that year’s City Council elections and the best result for a candidate running to the left of the Democratic Party. However, the 35th Council District has less than half as many residents as the 25th Senate District. There are five Assembly districts that overlap with Council District 35. Of those, Brisport fared best in the parts of the 52nd Assembly District, earning 37% of the vote there, where the median household income is $130,303 and 66% of residents are white. He performed the worst in Wright’s 56th Assembly District, where he got 16% against Cumbo.

As with every other facet of life in New York, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way campaigning happens. When in-person meetings were no longer an option, the campaigns shifted focus. Instead of door-knocking and in-person campaign events, phone-banking and tele-conferencing became the primary modes of campaigning.

Assemblymember Wright said in an interview that she put her campaign “on pause” during the worst of the crisis, but declining coronavirus case numbers have allowed her to resume some “regular campaign activities,” but not canvassing as of yet.

Wright also said that her team has “conducted wellness checks, provided food, [and] assisted with unemployment claims,” during the crisis. While not current officeholders like Wright, the two other candidates have also acted to help the district during the crisis, they said. Brisport has supported Bed-Stuy Strong, a mutual aid network serving district residents. Salmon said his campaign is “delivering meals to our food-insecure neighbors in NYCHA.”

Early voting starts June 13 and goes through June 21; primary day is June 23; and all eligible voters can vote absentee per executive order by the governor issued due to the pandemic. This and other Democratic Party primaries are only open to registered Democrats.

This article has been updated to add that AOC endorsed Brisport.

Left to right: Yvette Clarke, Adem Bunkeddeko, Isiah James, and Lutchi Gayot

Four of the five candidates in the Democratic primary for New York's 9th Congressional District, which includes a long swath of central and southern Brooklyn, will debate on Sunday, June 7, from 7-8:30 p.m. Incumbent Rep. Yvette Clarke will debate three of her four challengers: Adem Bunkeddeko, Isiah James, and Lutchi Gayot, while the other challenger, Chaim Deutsch has not agreed to participate.

The debate is hosted by the Pakistani American Youth Society, South Central Brooklyn United for Progress, and Brooklyn Movement Center, and will be moderated by Gotham Gazette's Ben Max. The Facebook page for the event can be found here - it has links to pages where the debate can be streamed on Sunday evening at 7 p.m. Interested parties can RSVP and submit a question here. Voting will take place on primary day, June 23, as well as through early voting June 13-21, and via absentee balloting, which all eligible voters are allowed to partake in given a gubernatorial order related to the coronavirus outbreak.

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Left to right: Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Suraj Patel, Pete Harrison, Lauren Ashcraft

UPDATE: This debate occurred on June 8, among the three challengers after Rep. Maloney backed out the day of the debate due to illness. Watch the debate video here.

The four candidates running the Democratic primary in New York's 12th Congressional District, which includes parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, and is currently represented by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, will debate on the night of Monday, June 8, from 8-9:30 p.m. The challengers are Suraj Patel, Peter Harrison, and Lauren Ashcraft.

The debate is being hosted by Empire State Indisivible and will be moderated by Gotham Gazette's Ben Max. It will be streamed over Zoom and Facebook. The Facebook event page can be found here. Zoom information will be available and posted here soon.

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Lindsey Boylan (photo: @LindseyBoylan)

June 03, 2020 - Max & Murphy Podcast: Lindsey Boylan on Her Bid to Unseat Rep. Jerry Nadler in NY-10

Lindsey Boylan is running in the Democratic Party primary to unseat Rep. Jerry Nadler in New York's 10th Congressional District, which includes parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Boylan joined the show to discuss her campaign. Voting will take place this month on primary day, June 23, as well as the June 13-21 early voting period and all eligible voters can vote by absentee ballot due to a gubernatorial order related to the coronavirus. Jonathan Herzog is the third Democrat on the ballot in NY-10.

Listen to the conversation and let us know what you think -- we're on Twitter @TweetBenMax and @JarrettMurphy. You can listen to the show through the embedded audio below or download the episode wherever you get your podcasts, under "Max & Murphy," and listen to Max & Murphy live on Wednesdays at 5 p.m. on WBAI radio, 99.5FM or wbai.org.