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The top level Winners & Losers from last night are obvious. Look at the candidates who won and lost. But things get more interesting when you look at the behind-the-scenes players and power brokers, so:

WINNERS

 – Keith Wright. Rumors of his lack of juice were greatly exaggerated. The Manhattan Democratic Party leader was Yusef Salaam’s top supporter, and got a huge win over oft-rival Inez Dickens in the heart of Harlem. 

 – Rep. Hakeem Jeffries. His longtime political annoyance, Council Member Charles Barron, is going to lose, with lots of credit to the minority leader’s political consigliere, André Richardson. 

 – The 14 other Spanos. Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano has more than a dozen relatives on payroll – and since he overturned term limits twice on his way to a primary victory, they’ll keep their jobs. 

 – YIMBYs. Council Members Marjorie Velázquez and Julie Won’s (eventual) support for upzonings didn’t hurt them, Open New York fav Yusef Salaam will be replacing NIMBY Kristin Richardson Jordan, and all that on the day that the courts ruled against the Elizabeth Street Garden’s attempt to stop an affordable housing project on the site. 

LOSERS

 – Eric Adams. The mayor only got publicly involved in one race this primary cycle, backing Inez Dickens, and she got routed. His campaign is touting decent support today in the Siena poll, but his endorsement record suggests candidates shouldn’t bother. 

– Justin Brannan. His former staffer Wai Yee Chan lost definitively, even though he corralled support for her from his Bay Ride Dems political operation. Meanwhile, newly Republican Council Member Ari Kagan won his primary easily, setting up a marquee November matchup between incumbents. And for Brannan, those losses outweigh a good showing for his judicial delegate slate. 

– Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn. The Brooklyn Dems threw support behind Turquoise Haskin for civil court judge, and she got slammed boroughwide by Linda Wilson. “When you’re the county chair, you’re expected to win judicial races,” quipped one insider. 

– Black radical socialists. No more Barron. No more Richardson Jordan. And while Salaam has called himself an abolitionist before, he specifically said he wasn’t a “defund the police” guy on the campaign trail.

The amount of super PAC spending reported so far, across the New York City Council races. And there’s likely more out there. (Business-backed People Enhancing New York blames “compliance issue” for its lack of reporting.) And that independent spending seemed to make a difference. Could anyone say Chris Banks would have beat Council Member Charles Barron without some $209,000 in outside support from Labor Strong, the Carpenters, and the Police Benevolent Association?

All the scared incumbents who let it be known they wanted support won reelection too. “There was a lot of pants shitting leading up to the election,” said one labor operative. But even if Council Members like Marjorie Velázquez, Linda Lee and Lynn Schulman could have won without super PACs, “I’d argue it was necessary to show strength.”

Who’s going to take on Republican New York City Council Member Vickie Paladino in November? The Democratic primary in District 19 will come down to ranked choice voting – which the Board of Elections will run on July 5 – with former City Council Member Tony Avella holding a slight election night lead in number one ranked votes, with 39% to Christopher Bae’s 37% and Paul Graziano’s 24%. Avella has been here before, and he held steady when RCV was run in the 2021 primary. But with just 124 votes separating Avella and Bae, an assistant district attorney, things could change in northeastern Queens. 

Things are tight in three Republican primaries too. Council Member Kalman Yeger already has the Democratic and Conservative lines in the general election for District 44 in Borough Park and Midwood, but he’s going to have a hell of a headache – and will have to work – if the notorious Heshy Tischler upsets him to win the Republican primary. Yeger is up just 20 votes, but in the super low turnout primary in a district dominated by Orthodox Jewish voters, that’s good for 51% to Tischler’s 48%.

In the newly drawn Asian opportunity seat, District 43, Ying Tan is up just 28 votes on Vito LaBella – meaning Tan might have to start looking for real estate in the district and move in from Queens. That’s expected to be a tight general election too, centered on Bensonhurst, with Democratic primary winner Susan Zhuang saying she’s got conservative values. 

And in the vicious Republican primary in District 13 in the East Bronx, Kristy Marmorato is feeling confident, up 48% to 44% over George Havranek, but with just 74 votes separating them – and some of Samantha Zherka’s 144 votes to be distributed in RCV – it ain’t over yet, for the chance to take on Council Member Marjorie Velázquez.

From prison, to exoneration, to the New York City Council, Yusef Salaam is on track to take one of the unlikeliest paths to City Hall of anyone in history. 

“What has happened on this campaign has restored my faith in knowing that I was born for this,” Salaam said last night at his victory party at Harlem Tavern, celebrating his victory over two sitting Assembly members, Inez Dickens and Al Taylor. He is now all but guaranteed to claim the Harlem District 9 City Council seat held by Kristin Richardson Jordan, who dropped her reelection bid.  

He had just over 50% of first place votes according to election night results from the New York City Board of Elections. Dickens had 25%, Taylor 14% and Richardson Jordan – who remained on the ballot – got 9%. Read more here.

Susan Zhuang declared victory in the Democratic primary for southern Brooklyn’s new Asian American majority seat soon after polls closed on Election Day. The chief of staff to Assembly Member William Colton, Zhuang captured 59% of the vote in District 43 with over 95% of scanners reported, outperforming fellow Democrats Wai Yee Chan and Stanley Ng, and teeing herself up for a competitive general election in November.

Zhuang was surrounded by ecstatic supporters in hot pink campaign gear at the headquarters of southern Brooklyn’s United Progressive Democratic Club, where backers Colton and former City Council Member Mark Treyger joined in the celebration. Soon after declaring victory, Zhuang received a congratulatory call from Mayor Eric Adams’ chief adviser Ingrid Lewis-Martin. Read more here.

City Council District 42 in eastern Brooklyn, including the neighborhoods of East New York, New Lots and Starrett City

Incumbent: Charles Barron (Democratic)

2020 census demographics: 64% Black, 23% Hispanic, 4% Asian, 3% white

2021 Democratic primary election results (first round): Charles Barron: 47.5%, Nikki Lucas: 36.6%, Wilfredo Florentino: 10.1%, Gena Watson: 5%

2023 Democratic primary election night results (first round): Barron: 50.5%, Christopher Banks: 43.2%, Jamilah Rose: 5.4%

Just one New York City Council incumbent seemed poised to fall yesterday: Charles Barron. In what is shaping up to be one of the biggest upsets of the night, Barron is all but sure to lose reelection to the City Council, bringing his more than two decades of representing East New York to an end. 

Read more, from Sahalie Donaldson, about when people started seeing cracks in the Barron wall.

Thanks for reading City & State New York’s Campaign Confidential newsletter, where City Hall Bureau Chief Jeff Coltin is covering the biggest races in New York, from the City Council to district attorneys, and looking ahead to the 2024 elections.

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