Mayor Bill de Blasio continued his energetic support for state senate candidate Jessica Ramos, joining her for a visit to a senior center in East Elmhurst. de Blasio has limited his public endorsements in the 2018 primaries to just a few candidates, with Ramos at the top of his list.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon appeared outside Zabar’s, greeting shoppers and passersby just before the start of Rosh Hashanah. Midway through her appearance she headed inside, ordering an unusual sandwich that roiled the internet.
Housing activists organized a march and rally protesting the inclusion of the costs of major capital improvements, or “MCIs,” in calculating rent increases for rent-stabilized and controlled apartments. The march started in Jackson Heights and went to offices of a landlord at 49th Street and 47th Avenue in Woodside. The march attracted competing local politicians including Jose Peralta and Jessica Ramos, competing for a state senate seat, and Ari Espinal and Catalina Cruz, competing for a state assembly seat. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Democratic congressional candidate who defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in June, also participated.
Mayor Bill de Blasio energetically embraced state senate candidate Jessica Ramos, campaigning with her in LeFrak City. Ramos, a former staffer for de Blasio, challenge incumbent and former IDC member Jose Peralta.
Gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon and State Senate candidate Robert Jackson campaigned together on the Upper West Side, appearing outside P.S. 75. P.S. 75 was Nixon’s first school and lies in the senate district that Jackson seeks to represent.
Democratic candidate for attorney general Zephyr Teachout and Democratic candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon appeared at a GOTV rally in Kingston. The two candidates were winding up a three day upstate campaign swing, but appeared in Kingston about 20 minutes apart.
The Bay Terrace Community Alliance hosted its annual candidates night, drawing more than 15 candidates for a variety of state offices, including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and comptroller.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.