The basic contours of the Lower East Side’s upcoming City Council campaigns have been clear for several months. Now we know for sure who’s on the ballot. The Board of Elections late yesterday published the candidate list for the Sept. 12 Democratic Primary.
Here are the highlights.
District 1: Lower Manhattan, including Lower East Side & Chinatown
Margaret Chin (incumbent)
District 2: East Village, Peter Cooper Village, Gramercy
There are also two competitive district leader contests. In the 65th Assembly District (Part A), Karen Blatt and Jacob Goldman of the Truman Democratic Club (former Assemblyman Sheldon Silver’s political base of operations) face a challenge from a new group called Grand Street Democrats. Meanwhile, Alice Cancel and Pedro Cardi face opposition in the 65th Assembly District (Part B). You’ll recall that Cancel won a special election last year to replace Sheldon Silver before being defeated in a regularly scheduled election by Yuh-Line Niou. In the past week, Cancel and Cardi mounted an unsuccessful court challenge to knock their district leader opponents off the ballot.
65th AD (Part A) – Female District Leader
Karen B. Blatt
Caroline Laskow
65th AD (Part A) – Male District Leader
Lee Berman
Jacob J. Goldman
65th AD (Part B) – Female District Leader
Alice Cancel
Daisy Paez
65th AD (Part B) – Male District Leader
Ken Paskar
Pedro A. Cardi
Finally, the Grand Street Democrats group is fielding a slate of county committee candidates against the Truman Club. The Democratic County committee will likely be called on to pick the party’s nominee to replace Sen. Daniel Squadron, who announced his resignation yesterday. A special election is probably going to be held in November. So these obscure positions could become important very soon. (We don’t yet know whether the county committee will meet before or after the Sept. 12 primary).
Here’s who made the ballot. One name in particular stands out: Judy Rapfogel, Sheldon Silver’s former chief of staff, who continues to be a major player within the Truman Club. We have noted with an asterisk candidates running on the Grand Street Democrats slate.
*Moira Brennan
*Tommy Loeb
Samantha Pedula
Mark R. Stein
*Joree Adilman
*Anthony Brownie
Marc Rapfogel
Sarah Hagler
*Michelle Stern
*Peter Herb
Gary Altman
Judy R. Rapfogel
*Matthew Quezada
*Martha Hornthal
Laryssa Shainberg
Dov Goldman
Udele B. Goodman
Gale Weintraub
*William Rockwell
*Allison Gordon
*Heather Cousens
*Lisa Arbisser
Freda A. Fried
Dana Linett-Silber
Karen Blatt
Bennah Serfaty
*Kenneth Wind
*Lauren Forsch
Grand Street Democrats also put up the following eight candidates for County Committee. They do not appear on the ballot because they are running unopposed.
Click here to look at the complete list of candidates. Confused? Not to worry. We’ll have a voter guide before the primary.
