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Who is running in the June primary in NYC?
Polls open across New York City on Saturday, marking the start of early voting for the June 27 primary election that will determine the nominees for the general election in November.
There are contests taking place in all boroughs except Staten Island— with more than 2.5 million eligible voters, according to the New York City Board of Elections.
To vote, New Yorkers must be registered with a party and reside in a district holding a primary. The last day to register is Saturday, June 17. To learn more about whether you can vote and how to do it, check out a handy checklist Gothamist put together here.
District attorney races
There are two state office primaries to select the district attorney nominee for Democrats in the Bronx and Queens. In those contests, the candidate with the most votes wins. That traditional system for tallying votes will also be used for the handful of judicial contests and party positions that may also be on your ballot. Here are the candidates in the DA races:
Queens DA
George A. Grasso
Devian S. Daniels
Melinda Katz (incumbent)
Bronx DA
Tess Cohen
Darcel D. Clark (incumbent)
City Council races
Meanwhile, ranked-choice voting will be used to determine the winners of the 26 City Council primary contests. The system of ranked-choice voting was adopted by voters in 2019 and has been used for primary and special elections for city elected offices since 2021. That means ranked-choice voting is currently only used in elections for theCity Council, borough presidents, city comptroller, public advocate and mayor.
Under the city’s ranked-choice voting system, voters can select up to five candidates in order of preference. When the results are tallied, candidates with the fewest votes are eliminated. Those ballots are then transferred to the voters’ second choices. Rounds of tallies continue until one candidate has more than 50% of the vote.
Candidates were elected to the City Council two years ago. But new district maps brought about by redistricting shifted the lines across the city. All 51 councilmembers need to run for their seats again this year, but not all incumbents face primary challengers.
You can read more about each candidate and the top issues they’re focused on at nycvotes.org.
Races Gothamist is watching
The races for the 1st, 9th and 43rd Council Districts are particularly competitive.
In the 1st Council District, which covers Lower Manhattan, first-term incumbent Christopher Marte is facing three challengers — Ursila Jung, Susan Lee and Pooi Stewart. Lee and Jung cross-endorsed each other, urging voters to rank them first and second as part of a strategy to oust Marte.
The race in the 9th Council District, which comprises Central Harlem, has also become increasingly competitive. Incumbent Kristin Richardson Jordan won’t be seeking re-election, leaving the seat open for a new leader. The race has offered a unique look into the state of Harlem politics. Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated Central Park Five, is a new entrant into city politics. He and one of his opponents, Assemblymember Al Taylor, recently endorsed each other as their No. 2 choices under the ranked-choice voting system against their rival, Assemblymember Inez Dickens.
After maps were redrawn last year, the 43rd District — which covers the south Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach — became the city’s newest majority Asian City Council district. It’s also home to one of the city’s most competitive Council races. The district’s five candidates — Democrats Wai Yee Chan, Stanley Ng and Susan Zhuang, and Republicans Ying Tan and Chingkit Ho – are all of Asian descent, and have framed their campaigns around addressing public safety and education. Though Republicans usually don’t fare well in New York City elections, voter turnout data shows the newly drawn 43rd District could be friendly for the two Republicans running.
Find your poll site and your sample ballot at vote.nyc, and check out the full list of candidates in the Council races here:
1st Council District: Lower Manhattan including the Financial District, Battery Park, SoHo, Tribeca, Chinatown and the Lower East Side
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Pooi Stewart, Christopher Marte (incumbent), Susan Lee, Ursila Jung
2nd Council district: Areas of Manhattan including the East Village, Union Square, Flatiron and Murray Hill
Party: Democrats
Candidates: Carlina Rivera (incumbent). Allie Ryan
9th Council District: Central Harlem, Manhattan
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Kristin R. Jordan (incumbent), Al Taylor, Inez E. Dickens, Yusef Salaam
10th Council District: Washington Heights, Manhattan
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Guillermo A. Perez, Carmen N. De La Rosa (incumbent),
12th Council District: Northern areas of the Bronx including Wakefield, Baychester, Eastchester, Edenwald, Williamsbridge and Co-op City
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Kevin C. Riley (incumbent), Pamela A. Hamilton-Johnson, Aisha Hernandez Ahmed
13th Council District: Northeastern Bronx neighborhoods including Country Club, City Island, Edgewater Park, Morris Park, Pelham Bay and Throgs Neck
Party: Democrat, Republican and Conservative
Candidates (Democratic Primary): Marjorie Velazquez (incumbent), Irene Estrada, Bernadette Ferrara, John Perez
Candidates (Republican Primary): Kristy Marmorato, George Havranek, Hasime Samantha Zherka
Candidates (Conservative Primary): Kristy Marmorato, George Havranek, Hasime Samantha Zherka
14th Council District: Bronx neighborhoods including Morris Heights, University Heights and Fordham
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Rachel T. Miller-Bradshaw, Pierina A. Sanchez (incumbent)
19th Council District: Queens neighborhoods including Whitestone, College Point, Beechhurst and Clearview
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Paul D. Graziano, Christopher S. Bae, Tony Avella
20th Council District: Queens neighborhoods including Flushing, Murray Hill and Queensboro Hill
Party: Republican
Candidates: Dany Chen, Yu-Ching James Pai
22nd Council District: Queens neighborhoods including Astoria, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights and Woodside
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Tiffany L. Cabán (incumbent), Charles A. Castro
23rd Council District: Queens neighborhoods including Bayside Hills, Bellerose, Douglaston, Floral Park, Fresh Meadows, Glen Oaks, Hollis, Hollis Hills, Holliswood, Little Neck, New Hyde Park, Oakland Gardens and Queens Village
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Steve Behar, Rubaiya Rahman, Linda Lee (incumbent)
25th Council District: Queens neighborhoods including Elmhurst, Jackson Heights
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Ricardo Pacheco, Shekar Krishnan (incumbent), Fatima Baryab
26th Council District: Queens neighborhoods including Sunnyside, Woodside, Long Island City, Astoria, Dutch Kills and Maspeth
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Hailie Kim, Julie Won (incumbent)
29th Council District: Queens neighborhoods including Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens and Richmond Hill
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Sukhi Singh, Ethan Felder, Lynn C. Schulman
34th Council District: Made up mostly of Williamsburg and Bushwick in Brooklyn and Ridgewood in Queens
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Jennifer Gutierrez (incumbent), Paperboy Love Prince
41st Council District: Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Ocean Hill-Brownsville, East Flatbush and Crown Heights
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Darlene Mealy (incumbent), Joyce D. Shearin, Isis McIntosh Green, Reginald Bowman
42nd Council District: Brooklyn neighborhoods of East New York, New Lots, Remsen Village, Spring Creek and Starrett City
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Charles Barron (Incumbent), Jamilah Rose, Chris Banks
43rd Council District: Brooklyn neighborhoods of Sunset Park, Borough Park, Bensonhurst and Bath Beach
Party: Democrat and Republican
Candidates (Democratic primary): Stanley Ng, Wai-Yee Chan, Susan Zhuang
Candidates (Republican candidates): Vito LaBella, Ying Tan
44th Council District: Brooklyn neighborhoods including Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Midwood, Ocean Parkway and Gravesend
Party: Republican
Candidates: Kalman Yeger (incumbent), Heshy Tischler
47th Council District: Brooklyn neighborhoods including parts of Bay Ridge snaking into Sea Gate
Party: Republican
Candidates: Anna Belfiore-Delfaus, Ari Kagan (incumbent), Avery N. Pereira
48th Council District: Brooklyn neighborhoods including Bensonhurst, Borough Park, Midwood and Ocean Parkway
Party: Republican
Candidates: Igor Kazatsker, Inna Vernikov (incumbent)
Judicial races
Civil court judges serve 10-year terms and hear cases on a wide variety of matters including civil disputes of up to $50,000 — a threshold that doubled starting last year. They can also serve on criminal and family court and often serve as acting state Supreme Court justices.
Though candidates for judge must fundraise and campaign for office, they can not take positions on specific issues. While there may be multiplate vacancies a year, voters are only asked to make a choice in contests where a party-endorsed candidate faces a challenger.
Judge of the Civil Court – Manhattan – 1st Municipal Court District: Covers Lower Manhattan up to 14th Street on the west side.
Party: Democrat
Candidates: David Alan Fraiden, Lauren L. Esposito
Judge of the Civil Court – Brooklyn: countywide
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Turquoise Haskin, Linda Wilson
Judge of the Civil Court – Queens: countywide
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Sandra Perez, Marianne Gonzalez
Judge of the Civil Court – District – 6th Municipal Court District – Queens: Covers portions of northeast Queens
Party: Democrat
Candidates: Steven T. Beard, Evelyn Gong, John Ciafone
Other party positions
Delegates and Alternates to the Judicial Convention
Judicial delegates represent their Assembly district at judicial nominating conventions, where they select nominees for judges to the state Supreme Court. Democrats will see candidates for judicial delegates and alternate delegates in parts of Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens.
County Committee
County committee members are part of the local party organization. Democrats in Manhattan and Republicans in the Bronx will select county committee members.
