Tag: State

New York state primary

Back in June, New York had elections for federal candidates (US House and US Senate). Now in September, we’re electing state-level candidates (Governor, State House, State Senate, etc). New York is the only state that has this separation of state and federal primaries and requires the voters to go to the polls twice in one year to vote for all candidates. Note that New York has closed primaries, which means that can only vote in a primary if you are already registered in that party.

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I do not have a BKAS post for these candidates, because the BKAS only covers US House, US Senate and Governor. When I wrote the BKAS on New York (October 2017), Andrew Cuomo did not have a primary challenger.

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Also note that I am only recommending candidates in the Democratic primary, because (1) I usually don’t research the Republicans (so I don’t feel qualified to make a recommendation there) and (2) the many third parties in New York (Working Families Party, Green Party, Independence Party, Libertarian Party, Rent is 2 Damn High Party, Women’s Equality Party, Reform Party, Conservative Party, Constitution Party, Socialist Workers Party, Serve America Movement and Tax Revolt Party) don’t have multiple candidates running for the same seat (and hence they don’t need primaries to pick candidates).

Some of you may be thinking “Why does New York state have so many third parties?” The answer to that question is fusion voting, where the same candidate can be listed on multiple party lines on the ballot and all the votes for that candidate are combined together in the final count. This is why Cynthia Nixon can run on both the Democratic and the Working Families Party ballot lines.

When there is a progressive third party option who will be listed on the November, I have noted that below.

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Governor: Cynthia Nixon (Democratic and Working Families Parties) (Justice Democrat candidate and endorsed by Our Revolution)

In the Fall election, there will also be a candidate of the Green Party, Howie Hawkins, and a candidate for the Rent is 2 Damn High Party, Jimmy McMillan.

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Lt. Governor: Jumaane Williams (endorsed by Our Revolution)

In the Fall election, there will also be a candidate of the Green Party, Jia Lee, and a candidate for the Rent is 2 Damn High Party, Christalle Felix, as well as a write-in candidate for the Socialist Workers Party, Harry D'Agostino.

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Attorney General: Zephyr Teachout (endorsed by Our Revolution)

In the Fall election, there will also be a candidate of the Green Party, Michael Sussman. The Working Families Party has a candidate (Kenny Schaeffer) listed as a “placeholder”. Though I’m not sure exactly what they mean by that, I believe that candidate may be holding a place for Zephyr Teachout if she loses the Democratic primary?? Does anyone know about this? Finally, there is also a write-in candidate of the Socialist Workers Party, Jacob Perasso.

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There are too many candidates for State Senate and State House for me to list them all here. But you can find complete lists of the candidates in the Ballotpedia links I’m providing (be sure to scroll down to the candidate lists near the bottom of the linked pages). Many (most?) of these candidates have webpages, even if the website is not linked through Ballotpedia. So, if you want to know about them, do a quick search online and try to find their webpage. I am highlighting a few races listed below.

State Senate:

https://ballotpedia.org/New_York_State_Senate_elections,_2018

Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) challengers: The IDC is a group of “Democratic” state Senators that caucus with the Republicans and prevent progressive legislation from being passed. Here are their challengers.

District 11 – John Liu

District 13 – Jessica Ramos (endorsed by Our Revolution)

District 20 – Zellnor Myrie (endorsed by Our Revolution)

District 23 – Jasmine Robinson (endorsed by Our Revolution)

District 31 – Robert Jackson

District 34 – Alessandra Biaggi (endorsed by Our Revolution)

District 38 – Julie Goldberg

District 53 – Rachel May (endorsed by Our Revolution)

There is also another “Democratic” Senator (Simcha Felder) that caucuses with the Republicans, though he is not a member of the IDC. Here is his challenger.

District 17 – Blake Morris (endorsed by Our Revolution)

Finally, here are some other good progressives running:

District 18 – Julia Salazar (endorsed by Our Revolution)

District 22- Ross Barkan

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State Assembly:

There are many races (there are 146 Assembly Districts in New York, most with multiple candidates. Find yours at the link below (be sure to scroll down the page to see who is running). Also remember, if their website is not linked, you can often find one by doing an internet search.

https://ballotpedia.org/New_York_State_Assembly_elections,_2018

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Finally, I may have missed some candidates, so if anyone else knows of a good progressive I’ve left off this list, let me know.