Your Guide to the NY Primaries

New York is holding primary elections on Tuesday, June 25th. There are dozens of races in New York City, as well as Westchester, Rockland, Nassau, and Suffolk counties.

In NYC, Queens will have its first competitive primary for District Attorney since 1955 with a wide field of eight candidates. Additionally, Council Member Farah Louis will be running in a primary to serve the rest of now-Public Advocate Jumaane Williams’ term until 2021 after winning a special election to serve in the position until the end of this year.

However, for the most part, New York City voters will be electing judges. There are seventeen Civil Court vacancies that need to be filled throughout the five boroughs. The Civil Court has jurisdiction over civil cases concerning $25,000 or less, but about many Civil Court judges sit instead on the city’s Criminal or Family courts.

Voters will also be asked to select slates of delegates to parties’ judicial conventions. Then, the delegates will select party nominees for Supreme Court vacancies for the November general election. Delegate slates are elected by Assembly district and only a handful of districts will see competitive primaries between two or more delegate slates this year.

In Nassau, all nineteen members of the County Legislature are up for reelection, but there is only one competitive primary. In Rockland County, Patricia Gunning, who was interviewed for WFUV’s Prickly Politics’ fourth season “Women in the Room,” is running for District Attorney against Kenneth Zebrowski and Thomas Walsh. In Westchester County, there are also mayoral elections in Mount Vernon and Yonkers.

New York City
The Bronx
There are no competitive primaries on June 25th. Incumbent District Attorney Darcel Clarke is seeking reelection and running unopposed. There are two open seats for the Bronx County Supreme Court, but there are no competitive delegate elections. For the Civil Court, there are two countywide races and two judicial districts (1st and 2nd).

Manhattan
There are three Assembly districts (71st, 72nd, 75th) where there are contested delegate elections for open New York County Supreme Court judgeships. For the Civil Court, there is a contested primary in the 4th judicial district between Lynne M. Fischman Uniman and Grace Park. There are also four uncontested Civil Court primaries (two countywide, the 3rd, and 9th).

Brooklyn
Council Member Farah Louis, who won the May 14 special election, is facing runner-up Monique Chandler-Waterman, as well as Xamayla Rose, Anthony Alexis, and Victor Jordan in a primary for the Council’s 45th district. The May special election was to serve until the end of the year, while this primary and the November general election will be to serve for the rest of the term through 2021.

There are two competitive primaries for judicial delegate slates, in the 50th and 60th Assembly districts. A primary for one of Kings County’s Surrogate’s Court judgeships between incumbent Margarita Lopez Torres, Elena Baron, and Meredith Jones will also take place. For the Civil Court, there are two competitive primaries, a countywide race between D. Bernadette Neckles and Edward King and a 6th district race between Alice Nicholson, Caroline Cohen, Chinyelu Udoh, and Tehilah Berman.

Additionally, the Republican County Party will hold elections for its state committee members.

Queens
There is a competitive primary for Queens District Attorney, without an incumbent. The candidates include Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, Gregory L. Lasak, Betty Lugo, City Council Member Rory I. Lancman, Jose L. Nieves, Tiffany Cabán, and Mina Quinto Malik.

There delegate elections for Supreme Court judgeships are uncontested. Lumarie Maldonado-Cruz and Wyatt Gibbons face off in a countywide race for Civil Court, while two other countywide races and a 5th district contest remain uncompetitive.

Republicans will also elected their state and county party committee members.

Staten Island
District Attorney Michael McMahon, a Democrat, is currently running unopposed in both the primary and the general election. While there are no open Richmond County Supreme Court seats, there are competitive delegate elections in the 61st, 62nd, 63rd, and 64th districts. The two Civil Court races (countywide and 1st district) are uncontested.

The county Democratic and Republican parties will also elect leadership positions.

Westchester County
Countywide
For the County Court, there are two open seats. Alexander Eisemann, Melissa Loehr, Robert Prisco, and Michael Tawil are running for the two spots on the fall ballot in the Democratic primary.

Three candidates, Jose Alvarado, London Reyes, and Lucy Moreno-Casanova, are running in the Democratic primary for the County Legislature’s District 17 seat.

Greenburgh
In the Democratic primary, Gina Jackson, Ken Jones, and Eric Zinger are running for two town council seats. Also, there are two candidates for town clerk, Judith Beville and Maria Portilla.

Mount Vernon
Incumbent Mayor Richard Thomas is running for reelection in the Democratic primary against Clyde Isley, Shawyn Patterson-Howard, and Andre Wallac. There are also two seats up for election to the Council. Candidates Joyce Brown, Lisa Copeland, Yuhanna Edwards, Hope Marable, Jamie Pessin, Danielle Scholar, and Dereck Thompson in the primary.

New Rochelle
There are two competitive council district primaries on the Democratic side. David Peters and Yadira Ramos-Herbert are running in the third district, while Elizabeth Fried and Shari Rackman are running in the sixth district.

Yonkers
Incumbent Mayor Mike Spano is running for reelection in the Democratic primary against Karen Beltran and Ivy Reeves. There are also two competitive council elections. Terence Miller and Shane Williams are running in the first district and Tasha Diaz, Olasubomi Macaulay, and Dennis Robertson are running in the third district.

Harrison
Republicans will pick either Pasquale Gizzo or Patricia O’Callaghan for village justice.

Somers
In a Republican primary, Michael McDermott, Donna Pascucci, and Dennis Timone are running to be their party’s nominee for town justice.

Nassau County
Incumbent District Attorney Madeline Singas, a Democrat, is running for reelection. She is unopposed in the primary, but will face Republican Francis McQuade in the general election this November.

There is a competitive Democratic primary in the third district for the County Legislature, but the eighteen other seats do not have more than one candidate in each party’s primary. Monique Hardial and Carrie Solages are running to be the Democratic nominee in the third legislative district.

Meryl Berkowitz is running unopposed for County Court Judge. Gary Carlton and Joy Watson are running in both the Democratic and Republic primaries for district court judge in the second district. Erica Prager, David Goodsell, Karen Moroney are running for both parties’ nominations for district court judge in the third district. Rhonda Fischer is running unopposed for district court judge in the sixth district.

Glen Cove
Incumbent Mayor Timothy Tenke is running for reelection. He is unopposed in the Democratic primary, but will face Republican Reginald Spinello in the November general election. Glen Cove residents will also elect six city council members. Six candidates are running in each of the Democratic and Republican primaries and will face each other in November.

Hempstead
Incumbent Supervisor Laura Gillen is running for reelection. She is unopposed in the Democratic primary, but will face Republican Donald Clavin Jr. in November. There are also uncompetitive primaries in Hempstead’s 2nd, 3rd and 5th town council districts, as well as for Town Clerk and Receiver of Taxes.

Long Beach
Seven Democrats are running for three city council seats. Candidates include Ronald Paganini, Elizabeth Treston, James Mulvaney, Anthony Eramo, Karen McInnis, Chumi Diamond, and Timothy Kramer. Three of them will face three Republican candidates, who are running unopposed in their primary, this fall.

North Hempstead
Incumbent Supervisor Judi Bosworth is running for reelection. She is unopposed in the primary, but will face Republican David Redmond in the November general election. Three town council seats (2nd, 4th, and 6th districts) and the Receiver of Taxes position are open, but none have competitive primaries.

Oyster Bay
Incumbent Supervisor Joseph Saladino is running unopposed in the Republican primary, but will face Democrat James Altadonna in the November general election. Three town council seats are also up for grabs, but the primaries are similarly uncompetitive. Oyster Bay’s Town Clerk and Receiver of Taxes primaries are also uncompetitive.

Suffolk County
East Hampton
Andrew Strong and Lisa Rana are competing in the Democratic primary for Town Justice. There are also twelve candidates running for nine seats on the town council. Those candidates are Mike Martinsen, Tim Garneau, Dell Cullum, William Taylor, Richard Drew II, James Grimes, Susan McGraw-Kebe, John Aldred, Stephen Lester, Benjamin Dollinger, Rona, Klopman, and Francis Bock.


Rockland County
Three candidates, Patricia Gunning, Kenneth Zebrowski, and Thomas Walsh, are running for the Democratic nomination to be Rockland’s District Attorney.

There are also competitive primaries for the Rockland County Legislature. In the first district, Michael Parietti and Mari Morrison Rodriguez are running in the Democratic primary to challenge Republican incumbent Douglas Jobson. In the eighth district, incumbent Toney Earl is facing primary challenges from Rudy Laurent and Claude Jean-Louis.

In the thirteenth district, Vivian Street and Mirlene Millien challenging incumbent Aron Wieder in the Democratic primary. In the fourteenth district, incumbent Aney Paul is facing primary challenges from Antonine Amisial and Agin Anthony. The races in the fifth and eleventh districts are uncompetitive in both primaries.

Clarkstown
Primaries for Wards 2 and 3 are uncompetitive, but the fourth ward has a Republican primary between Scott Milich and Matthew Brennan. The winner will face Incumbent Democrat Patrick Carroll in November. Incumbent Judges David Ascher and Howard Gerber are facing a primary challenge from Larraine Feiden for two judgeships.

Ron Altman and Thomas Martens are vying for Highway Superintendent in the Democratic primary.

Orangetown
There is an uncompetitive primary for Town Supervisor and a Town Board seat..

Stony Point
There are uncompetitive primaries for two Town Board positions.

Nyack
Three incumbents are running unopposed as Democrats for three seats on the Board of Trustees.

Spring Valley
There are two spots open on the Board of Trustees. Incumbents Sherry McGill and Zach Clerina are facing primary challenges from Schello Jean-Louis, Linote Banjamin-Freda, Yisroel Eisenbach, Dianna Millien, Chrispin Eugene, Ghulam Fani, and Aaron Morse. Additionally, Justice David Fried and Marie Noel-Charles are running in the Democratic primary for judge/

Suffern
Incumbent Mayor Edward Markunas, a Republican, is running unopposed in both the primary and the general election. The primaries for two Board of Trustees positions are also uncompetitive, but not for the general election.