Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor Kathy Hochul and Jumaane Williams met for their only debate Wednesday. Moderated by Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max and hosted by the Manhattan Neighborhood Network in its midtown studios as part of its Race to Represent initiative, the debate was a brief 30 minutes. Although each party’s candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run as a ticket in the general election there are separate primaries for the two offices.
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The four Democratic candidates for attorney general participated in a televised debate Tuesday. Letitia James, Sean Patrick Maloney, Leecia Eve and Zephyr Teachout appeared at Manhattan’s John Jay College for a 90 minute session hosted by NY1 with moderators Erroll Louis and Liz Benjamin.
Photos were not permitted during the debate, so our photo gallery is limited to pre- and post-debate shots, primarily from the spin room. Leecia Eve and Sean Patrick Maloney, along with Republican attorney general candidate Keith Wofford, appeared in the spin room. Tish James and Zephyr Teachout did not, although James had several surrogates appear.
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Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro unveiled his long awaited proposal for overhauling the MTA, holding a City Hall press conference this morning. It’s an enormous task that involves complex construction and engineering challenges as well as managing the logistics and politics of transit disruptions, all at a huge cost. Dissatisfaction with the MTA, especially the subway system, has boiled for the past couple of years and poses both a real challenge to the City’s well-being and to the political fortune of Governor Andrew Cuomo. There’s opportunity for Molinaro, but as a non-City pol he faces a large challenge in convincing City and New York City suburban voters that he’s the best choice to repair and expand their transit systems.
Continue reading Photo Gallery: Molinaro MTA Plan →
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon attended a Democratic gubernatorial candidate forum Tuesday night, getting the stage to herself as rival Andrew Cuomo did not attend. Held in Sunset Park and moderated by Gotham Gazette executive editor Ben Max and Politico reporter Madina Toure, the forum was an hour-long discussion on a wide mix of policy issues and political prospects as Nixon heads toward primary day well behind in public polling.
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Mayor Bill de Blasio moved to increase public awareness of the coming L train shutdown and of the City’s current plans for ameliorating the significant transit disruptions expected from the shutdown. With the shutdown scheduled to begin in April and last 15 months as major repairs are made to the East River tunnel for the L, the Mayor headed to Brooklyn Tuesday to move forward in preparing for it.
Mayor de Blasio began his outing by riding the L train from Union Square to the site of his press conference, at the corner of Grand Street and Bushwick Avenue in Williamsburg. He then held a press conference with Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg and Council Members Rafael Espinal, Antonio Reynoso, Stephen Levin and Ydanis Rodriguez.
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Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell endorsed Cynthia Nixon, hosting her for a brief press conference and voter meet & greet at the 96th Street/Broadway subway station last Monday. O’Donnell has represented the Upper West Side since 2003 and endorsed Andrew Cuomo in 2014. He said that Cuomo’s failure to produce sufficient results in eight years in office, including on criminal justice reform and mass incarceration, have led him to support Nixon.
O’Donnell was the fourth member of the Assembly to endorse Nixon, joining Andrew Hevesi, Tom Abinanti and Harvey Epstein. She’s also been endorsed by four New York City Council members.
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon was joined by several aligned candidates at a “Latinx for Cynthia” fundraiser. (“Latinx” is a genderless descriptive in place of “Latino/Latina.”)
Joining Nixon were attorney general candidate Zephyr Teachout, state senate candidates Jessica Ramos and Robert Jackson and Assembly candidate Amanda Septimo. Former City Council speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito also attended.
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Gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon continued her campaign focus on the subway, visiting the Upper West Side’s 72nd Street station for a brief press conference and some voter contact Tuesday.
Continue reading Nixon Underground →
Assembly Member Tom Abinanti has added to the small number of elected officials supporting Cynthia Nixon over Andrew Cuomo, endorsing her in a pair of Westchester appearances. Nixon joined Abinanti at a health fair in Greenburgh and at a Tarrytown park on the Hudson River overlooking the Mario Cuomo/Tappan Zee Bridge Friday.
Abinanti cast his decision to choose Nixon over Cuomo as driven by the combination of his shared views with Nixon on a broad range of issues and his conclusion that after Cuomo having eight years in office it’s “time for a change.” Alluding to his ideological compatibility with Nixon, Abinanti spoke of the need for “a strong Democrat who’s going to enunciate Democratic Party principles … all of them.”
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Congressman Jerry Nadler joined the anti-IDC battle, endorsing Alessandra Biaggi in her primary campaign against incumbent Senator Jeff Klein. Klein leads the conference of breakaway Democratic state senators who have allied themselves with the Republican conference for much of the last seven years. (In April Klein and Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins joined Governor Cuomo to announce that the IDC would dissolve and reunify with the Senate Democratic conference.) Nadler and Biaggi appeared together Thursday at the Tortoise and Hare sculpture in Van Cortlandt Park.
Continue reading Nadler Endorses Biaggi →
Zephyr Teachout, candidate for New York State attorney general, and Julie Goldberg, candidate for New York state senate, endorsed each other Thursday. Teachout is one of four candidates in the Democratic primary for attorney general in the race spawned by the resignation of Eric Schneiderman. Goldberg is running against incumbent Senator David Carlucci, an member of the IDC. She’s among the loose network of anti-IDC candidates seeking to both generate and capitalize on a Democratic “blue wave.”
Continue reading Teachout & Goldberg Cross Endorse →
Cynthia Nixon and Jumaane Williams endorsed each other Sunday, establishing an alliance that many voters assumed existed between the two candidates opposing the incumbent governor and lieutenant governor in the Democratic primary. Speaking at a press conference on the edge of Prospect Park, Nixon and Williams were endorsed by the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America before they endorsed each other. Following the press conference the two candidates spent considerable time greeting attendees and passersby. They briefly walked into Prospect Park but quickly changed course, having already spent their allotted park time greeting those attendees and passersby, and instead headed out to knock on doors on surrounding blocks.
Continue reading Nixon & Williams Cross Endorse →
The Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City drew scores of candidates to its endorsement meeting last Wednesday as the first and best known LGBT Democratic club in New York City made its choices in many strongly contested primaries.
Continue reading Photo Gallery: Stonewall Endorsements →
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