Here we go again: Manhattan Democrats will select their party’s nominees in three Congressional and five state Senate races in the second and final primary of 2022 scheduled for Aug. 23.
Early voting in the primary begins this Saturday, Aug. 13, at 31 sites across the borough. The early voting period runs through Sunday, Aug. 21; to find your local early voting polling site, visit findmypollsite.vote.nyc.
This August primary was necessitated by the bungled redistricting of New York state’s Congressional and state Senate seats. In the spring, a state judge threw out district maps that the Democratic-led state legislature had approved, and later adopted new maps drawn up by a court-appointed expert.
The new maps were adopted in late April, too late for the Congressional and state Senate primaries to be contested in the June 28 primary along with the statewide and Assembly races.
The Aug. 23 primary ballot is led by contests centered around the three Congressional districts representing Manhattan.
Note: For more information on each candidate, check out the nonpartisan New York City Campaign Finance Bureau’s voter guide at nycvotes.org/meet-the-candidates/2022-primary-election/august-2022-races.
Literally and figuratively, the biggest race is the 10th Congressional District covering almost all of Manhattan generally south of 12th and 15th Streets, and extending in to north and central Brooklyn. Thirteen candidates are on the ballot, and most of the candidates reside in Brooklyn.
The frontrunners in the field include Congressman Mondaire Jones, who currently represents parts of Westchester County and the Lower Hudson Valley but is relocating to this district; former Congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman of Brooklyn; Trump impeachment attorney Dan Goldman of Brooklyn; Lower East Side/East Village City Council Member Carlina Rivera; Chinatown/Lower Manhattan Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou; and Brooklyn Assembly Member JoAnne Simon.
Others on the ballot include attorney Peter Gleason of the Upper East Side; community reverend Yan Xiong of Brooklyn; Chinatown community activist Jimmy Li; attorney Maud Maron of SoHo; county committee member Quanda Francis of Brooklyn; and author Brian Robinson of Lower Manhattan.
You can learn more about the candidates by watching the NY-10 debate on PoliticsNY.
Also on the ballot, but no longer an active candidate, is former Mayor Bill de Blasio, who dropped out of the contest last month.
The other big Congressional race in Manhattan is the 12th District contest covering the heart of the island, from north of 12th and 15th Streets to just south of East 98th Street on the Upper East Side, and West 100th Street on the Upper West Side.
There, two long-time veterans on the political scene — Congress Members Jerry Nadler and Carolyn Maloney — are duking it out after redistricting put them in the same congressional district. They’re also facing attorney Suraj Patel, who’s looking to defeat both 30-year incumbents after two unsuccessful primary challenges of Maloney in 2018 and 2020; and community activist Ashmi Sheth.
Meanwhile, north of East 98th and West 100th Street, incumbent Congress Member Adriano Espaillat is seeking another term in office representing the 13th District focused on northern Manhattan and the western Bronx. He’s facing two challengers: Francisco Spies and Michael Hano.
Of the five state Senate races focused on Manhattan, the most contentious is in the newly formed 59th Senate District, which includes a chunk of the East Side, Gramercy and Kips Bay and crosses over the East River into western Queens and northern Brooklyn.
The candidates include Michael Corbett, a City Council aide from the Lower East Side; former Queens City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley; product manager and Queens activist Kristen Gonzalez; progressive journalist Nomiki Konst, residing in Queens; and small business owner Françoise Olivas.
The other four state Senate races involve incumbents attempting to fend off challenges.
In the 27th Senate District covering almost all of Manhattan south of 14th Street, state Senator Brian Kavanagh is facing two rivals: business owner Danyela Souza Egorov and attorney Vittoria Fariello.
State Senator Cordell Cleare is seeking another term in office as representative of the 30th District covering the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, Harlem, East Harlem, Hamilton Heights and Washington Heights. Looking to defeat her is community organizer Shana Harmongoff.
The 31st District race features state Senator Robert Jackson looking to defeat three challengers in his bid for another term representing Hamilton Heights, Washington Heights, Inwood and the Bronx: interpreter Francesca Castellanos; Angel Vasquez, senior policy advisor for the United Federation of Teachers; and perennial candidate Ruben Dario Vargas.
Finally, in the 47th District, state Senator Brad Hoylman seeks another term covering the West Village, Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen and the Upper West Side. He faces a challenge from attorney Maria Danzilo.
If you choose to vote on Primary Day, June 28, keep in mind that all polling places are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. that day.
To find your designate poll site, visit findmypollsite.vote.nyc.
