Democratic activists in Lower Manhattan today chose Alice Cancel as their nominee to run in a special election to replace Assemblyman Sheldon Silver.
The Democratic County Committee in the 65th Assembly District overwhelmingly favored the longtime district leader and Lower East Side resident over four other contenders. Cancel will now face Republican Lester Chang in the April 19 election. The district is heavily Democratic.
About 180 County Committee members allocated several thousand votes within Lower Manhattan’s election districts. Here was the breakdown:
- Alice Cancel 5,772
- Paul Newell 1,775.5
- Jenifer Rajkumar 605
- Yuh-Line Niou 93
Shortly before the vote, Niou withdrew from the process, calling it undemocratic. She has vowed to compete in the April election as a third party candidate. Yesterday Niou received the endorsement of the Working Families Party. A fifth candidate, Gigi Li, did not receive any votes from the County Committee. All of the contenders, plus Don Lee, are expected to run in the next regularly scheduled Democratic Primary in September.
Cancel is a staffer in the office of City Comptroller Scott Stringer. She also worked for former Comptroller John Liu and former State Sen. Marty Connor. Cancel rode to victory today with the backing of Lower East Side Democrats, her political club, as well as strong support from the Truman Club, Sheldon Silver’s political organization. Silver was forced from office after being convicted of federal corruption charges. She was also backed by City Council member Rosie Mendez and tenant leaders of some of the Lower East Side’s largest low- and-middle income buildings.
We’ll have a full report tomorrow morning.
