6/23 Primary Preview Part II

Part I, which contains New York Congress and state senate, can be found here.

This half contains New York Assembly and DA races, along with a few in Kentucky. Virginia is holding elections today, but they’re just Congressional, and nothing much is happening there in blue seats (progressive candidate Zainab Mohsini is running in VA-11, but that race won’t be close). You can follow along tonight with us at this link, where Nick will be tracking New York’s results in nearly 50 races because he frankly needs a hobby. Polls close at 6 PM ET in the part of Kentucky which observes Eastern Time, including Louisville, and at 7 PM ET in the part which observes Central Time. Polls close in New York at 9 PM ET.

New York

In 2018, the New York Senate was the legislature’s primary-season battleground; in 2020, it’s the Assembly’s turn, with more than a dozen incumbents facing tough primaries across the five boroughs, in the suburbs, and upstate. New York’s ascendant left is out to cement its newfound status as a major force in Albany, and these primaries could determine the direction of New York politics for the next two years and beyond.

AD-24 parts of Queens (Richmond Hill, Hillcrest, Jamaica Estates, Queens Village, Glen Oaks)

David Weprin (i) vs. Albert Baldeo vs. Mahfuzul Islam

David Weprin is a low-profile cog in the Queens machine, best known for managing to lose Anthony Weiner’s very Democratic congressional seat in the 2011 special election prompted by Weiner’s resignation in the wake of his first sexting scandal. (He has had three sexting scandals so far.) He’s being challenged by two candidates: local activist Mahfuzul Islam, who is good, and former local Democratic Party functionary Albert Baldeo, who was convicted on federal charges of conspiracy and obstruction of justice relating to a straw donations scheme. Weprin is refusing to return money from police unions, outrageously asserting that New York’s weeks of protests have been about “abuses in other places,” and not the many well-documentedinstances of violencecommitted by New York’s Finest. There is a clear demographic angle to this race, too; Weprin is white, but his challengers, like a vast majority of the district’s residents, are nonwhite; Islam is a Bengali Queens native, and Baldeo is an immigrant from Guyana.

AD-31 parts of Queens (South Ozone Park, Arverne, Far Rockaway)

Khaleel Anderson vs. Tavia Blakley vs. Richard David vs. Derrick DeFlorimonte vs. Lisa George vs. Shea Uzoigwe

When Assemblywoman Michele Titus resigned to take a seat on the Queens Civil Court, Andrew Cuomo set a special election for the remainder of her term to coincide with the April 28 presidential primary. Then the primary and special election were both postponed until June because of the pandemic. Then the special election was canceled. Now, this is just a primary for an open seat, and it’s crowded. The Queens machine, which is at its most powerful here in southern Queens, prefers Richard David, who is the Democratic Party’s district leader here in Assembly District 31; progressives have coalesced around Khaleel Anderson, a member of Community Board 14. Also in the race are former Titus staffer Tavia Blakley, former state Sen. James Sanders staffer Shea Uzoigwe, current Sanders staffer Lisa George, and Community Board 13 member Derrick DeFlorimonte. It’s extremely crowded and extremely volatile; David is the favorite; if Anderson pulls it off, it would be a significant blow to the Queens machine.

AD-34 parts of Queens (East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Woodside)

Michael DenDekker (i) vs. Jessica González-Rojas vs. Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo (vs. Joy Chowdhury vs. Angel Cruz)

Michael DenDekker is a moderate white incumbent in a rapidly diversifying and very progressive district. This part of Queens preferred leftist DA candidate Tiffany Cabán in 2019 and powered AOC’s landslide victory in 2018. The field of challengers is, unfortunately, crowded; Angel Cruz and Cabán campaign alum Joy Chowdhury don’t seem to have gained much traction, and former prosecutor Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo has mostly gotten attention for a racist and factually incorrect attack on fellow candidate Jessica González-Rojas as well as prosecutorial misconduct during her time working under notoriously punitive Manhattan DA Cy Vance. The Working Families Party, and New York progressives more broadly, have largely united behind González-Rojas, the director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health.

AD-35 parts of Queens (Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Corona)

Jeffrion Aubry (i) vs. Hiram Monserrate

Jeff Aubry is a regular machine Democrat, and it is absolutely urgent that he is reelected. Why? His opponent is Hiram Monserrate.

In 2010, then-state Sen. Monserrate became the first member of the New York Legislature to be expelled from the body in almost a century after he was convicted of domestic assault for dragging his then-girlfriend down a hallway; he was not convicted on a felony charge for slashing his girlfriend with a broken glass bottle in the same incident, even though she was hospitalized and the injury required 20 stitches. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to using public funds for his own personal and political use. But he’s never stopped trying for a comeback--and in 2018, he got his first win since his 2008 election to the state senate, winning a district leader position in north-central Queens. His challenge to Aubry is worryingly serious; he outraised the incumbent, and he’s a talented retail politician. His return to Albany would be a disaster; root for Aubry, and if Aubry goes down, root for Monserrate to lose to a third-party challenger in November or be expelled from the legislature the minute he takes office.

AD-36 parts of Queens (Astoria)

Aravella Simotas (i) vs. Zohran Mamdani

Aravella Simotas has represented western Queens in the New York state Assembly since 2011, mostly keeping a low profile. She hasn’t done much to make herself, specifically, a target for the left; her Astoria district is just very favorable to insurgent leftist candidates, based on election results in 2018 and 2019, and it would be political malpractice for the left not to field a candidate here. Housing counselor and DSA member Zohran Kwame Mamdani is that candidate, and he is one of DSA’s For The Many slate--a slate also including Samelys López in the Bronx’s NY-15, Jabari Brisport in Brooklyn’s SD-25, Marcela Mitaynes in Brooklyn’s AD-51, and Phara Souffrant-Forest in Brooklyn’s AD-57. Big business seems sufficiently scared about the prospects of a Mamdani victory that they’ve poured thousands of dollars into the race, particularly scared are rideshare companies, as Mamdani has vocally supported expanded labor protections for rideshare drivers.

AD-37 parts of Queens (Astoria, Long Island City, Maspeth, Ridgewood)

Cathy Nolan (i) vs. Mary Jobaida vs. Danielle Brecker

While AD-37 isn’t quite as ripe for a leftist challenge as AD-36, the district is still an obvious place for a challenge. Unfortunately, there are two challengers in the race, not one: Mary Jobaida, who is more clearly leftist, and Danielle Brecker, a more #Resistance-style candidate. Jobaida is likely the more viable opponent to incumbent Cathy Nolan, another entrenched machine incumbent; Nolan was one of the few New York City Assembly incumbents facing primaries who voted for Andrew Cuomo’s austerity budget, which cut Medicaid in the middle of a pandemic. (Only Weprin, DenDekker, and the thus far unmentioned Mike Miller of Queens and Jeffrey Dinowitz of the Bronx joined her.) 

AD-38 parts of Queens (Glendale, Woodhaven)

Mike Miller (i) vs. Jenifer Rajkumar vs. Joey De Jesus

Mike Miller is just trash. He’s a social conservative, a fiscal conservative, and at some points a capital-C Conservative on some ballots--he’s the rare Democrat who has been able to win the ballot line of the New York Conservative Party, and he’s done it several times. As we said: trash. Unfortunately, his main challenger appears to be Jenifer Rajkumar, a Cuomo alum with the backing of Donovan Richards, a city councilman who is the machine candidate for Queens Borough President. Joey De Jesus, a poet and professor with no questionable machine ties, hasn’t gotten much traction. Rajkumar would be an improvement on Miller, but we’d be shocked if she turned out to be good. The bar’s just really low here.

AD-39 parts of Queens (Elmhurst, Corona, Jackson Heights)

Catalina Cruz (i) vs. Ramon Ramirez

Catalina Cruz is great, a reliable progressive vote and former DREAMer who took down machine incumbent Ari Espinal in 2018. She deserves to be reelected over Ramon Ramirez, a local Democratic activist aligned with the East Elmhurst-Corona Democratic Club of which Hiram Monserrate is an active member.

AD-40 parts of Queens (Flushing)

Ron Kim (i) vs. Steven Lee

Ron Kim has voted the right way in New York’s many pitched legislative battles, and he was a surrogate for Bernie Sanders. Steven Lee is an anti-abortion NYPD sergeant and former Republican supported by Donovan Richards. Kim is the only choice here.

AD-43 parts of Brooklyn (Crown Heights, Flatbush, Prospect Lefferts Gardens)

Diana Richardson (i) vs. Jesse Hamilton

Assemblywoman Diana Richardson is a solid progressive who has been a prominent voice in favor of the recent Black Lives Matter protests; in an incident that received a fair amount of attention, she and state Sen. Zellnor Myrie were both pepper-sprayed and handcuffed by the NYPD at a protest despite being well-known local elected officials who were, by all accounts, acting peacefully (and attempting to ensure everyone else did the same.) Not coincidentally, both Richardson and Myrie are Black.

Richardson has been on the front lines of the fight against injustice, but she’s never been particularly cozy with the Brooklyn Democratic machine, and the machine couldn’t abide that. Richardson is being challenged by former IDC state Sen. Jesse Hamilton, who was defeated by Myrie two years ago, and the Brooklyn machine has been noticeably absent--a healthy local party would stick up for an incumbent faced with a challenger who had helped Republicans control Albany, but the Brooklyn Democratic Party is not a healthy institution.

AD-50 parts of Brooklyn (Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Navy Yard)

Joe Lentol (i) vs. Emily Gallagher

Assemblyman Joe Lentol has been in office since the presidency of Richard Nixon. He’s mostly alright, but nothing special, and there are some big red flags in his record, like voting to preserve religious exemptions for vaccination requirements--a practice which fueled multiple measles outbreaks before it was finally outlawed last year. Emily Gallagher, a local activist and democratic socialist with the backing of some local progressive organizations, presents Lentol with his first competitive race in a very long time--and boy is he scared, calling in favors from the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee to help him drastically outspend Gallagher. This district voted for Bernie Sanders and even Cynthia Nixon, so Gallagher has a favorable electorate to work with, which is probably why Lentol and Assembly Democrats are so concerned.

AD-51 parts of Brooklyn (Red Hook, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge)

Félix Ortiz (i) vs. Marcela Mitaynes vs. Genesis Aquino vs. Katie Walsh

Assistant Assembly Speaker Félix Ortiz faces a challenge from tenants’ rights activist Marcela Mitaynes, who has the support of DSA, the WFP, and AOC, among others. Ortiz, despite a recent scandal involving a top staffer embezzling campaign funds, is the choice of the Brooklyn establishment, and state Democrats are not pleased with the idea of losing such a high-ranking Assembly Democrat. Unfortunately for Mitaynes, Community Board 7 member Katie Walsh and local activist Genesis Aquino are also on the ballot, raising the possibility that Ortiz could win with a plurality. Mitaynes is also on DSA’s For The Many slate.

AD-56 parts of Brooklyn (Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights)

Justin Cohen vs. Stefani Zinerman

This seat is being vacated by Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright, who is running for state senate. Justin Cohen is an activist running on a very progressive platform and raising the most money; Stefani Zinerman is a pastor and community leader running on a more moderate and localized platform with the support of local elected officials. This gentrifying district is still majority-Black, which could present an advantage for Zinerman; she is Black and a longtime resident, while Cohen is white and a more recent arrival.

AD-57 parts of Brooklyn (Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bed-Stuy, Crown Heights)

Walter Mosley (i) vs. Phara Souffrant-Forest

Walter Mosley, a fairly party-line vote in the Assembly and the choice of the Brooklyn machine, faces Phara Souffrant-Forest, a tenant activist and member of DSA’s For The Many slate. Mosley has the backing of the WFP, unlike most incumbents facing challenges from the left; Mosley was one of the relatively few establishment legislators to stick up for the WFP against Andrew Cuomo’s attempt to kill the minor party in retaliation for the WFP’s opposition to his 2018 reelection and the WFP’s role in the defeats of six of the IDC’s eight members. Souffrant-Forest, a nurse and lifelong resident of Crown Heights, also has the support of AOC, and her background as a nurse could give her a boost due to the pandemic.

AD-65 parts of Manhattan (Lower East Side, Chinatown, Financial District)

Yuh-Line Niou (i) vs. Grace Lee

Yuh-Line Niou is one of the best state legislators in the entire country. Of course, the center hates her for it. In 2016, she unseated the handpicked successor of disgraced Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, and since then has been a constant voice against Andrew Cuomo’s conservatism and the Democratic establishment’s unwillingness to enact bold policy for fear of upsetting their donors, exemplified by her moving speech on the Assembly floor opposing Cuomo’s disgraceful decision to cut Medicaid and other social programs in the midst of a pandemic and unprecedented economic crisis. Her challenger, Grace Lee, is backed by just about every pernicious special interest one can imagine, and is running a deeply absurd negative campaign. (The highlight is a mailer blaming Niou, first elected in 2016, for never holding hearings on Hurricane Sandy, which struck in 2012, or 9/11, which happened in 2001.)

AD-73 parts of Manhattan (Upper East Side, Midtown, Murray Hill)

Dan Quart (i) vs. Cameron Koffman

Dan Quart is a reliably progressive assemblyman representing the Upper East Side, and he is being challenged by a conservative 22-year-old real estate heir with questionable New York residency. Cameron Koffman criticizes Quart for being too ambitious to pay attention to the district, because Quart is one of several candidates to already announce an intent to challenge Manhattan DA Cy Vance in 2021; of course, nothing says humble, down-to-earth, and rooted in the community like running for state assembly approximately five seconds after graduating from Yale (where he voted, by the way, rather than voting in New York) and funding your campaign with your family’s real estate fortune.

AD-79 parts of the Bronx (South Bronx)

George Alvarez vs. Cynthia Cox vs. Chantel Jackson vs. Dion Powell vs. Elvis Santa vs. Eric Stevenson

The Bronx Democratic machine usually gets its way in this part of the borough, and in this election, its way is Cynthia Cox. But in this case, social worker Chantel Jackson is putting up a good fight. Jackson has received the endorsement of more than a few unions and local politicians, and she’s raised okay money.

AD-81 parts of the Bronx (Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, Kingsbridge, Woodlawn)

Jeffrey Dinowitz (i) vs. George Diaz

Jeffrey Dinowitz is a good target for a primary challenge from the left. He’s been in office since 1994, a moderate, and a white guy representing a district which is now about ⅓ white. He’s also never run in a primary before. George Diaz, his challenger, seems like a solid progressive from his issues page, and has worked as a staffer for Oliver Koppell, a former City Councilor. But he never raised much money and none of the outside organizations took up his cause. 

Still… Dinowitz has never run in a primary, and he doesn't appear to be bothering to do anything for this one. Meanwhile, the sudden expansion of mail-in voting has led to an explosion in voter turnout in other states and this district has been changing. How many voters are going to get their ballots knowing Dinowitz is? Diaz at least shelled out for a competent-looking campaign website, while Dinowitz just has social media where he’s campaigning for Engel. Dinowitz is still obviously favored, but if you’re looking for an out-of-nowhere upset, this would be the place.

AD-85 parts of the Bronx (Soundview, Longwood, Hunts Point)

Kenneth Burgos vs. William Moore

Kenneth Burgos is only 25, and would be one of the youngest members of the Assembly. He also seems to have a pretty decent policy outlook despite being a machine-endorsed candidate. It’s a bit of a sleepy race, since William Moore is a somewhat mysterious perennial candidate who got 24% and 27% the last two times he ran for this seat.

AD-91 southern Westchester County (Rye, Port Chester, New Rochelle, Mamaroneck)

Steven Otis (i) vs. Meg Cameron

Meg Cameron, Chair of the Rye City Democratic Committee, is challenging incumbent Steven Otis. She and her husband are self-funding the campaign and she’s running on a pretty weaksauce platform, while incumbent Steven Otis is… fine, unremarkable really. He’s a mostly reliable party line vote, at least, but he’s also an Engel endorser, so this race earns a shrug from us.

AD-92 southern Westchester County (Hastings-on-Hudson, Tarrytown, Pleasantville)

Thomas Abinanti (i) vs. Jennifer Williams

There’s a lot to like about Thomas Abinanti, as we said back when he was considering running for Congress. He’s been fairly progressive, and a Cuomo antagonist at that. But he’s also been a leading proponent of “parental choice” on vaccinations, and we’re not going to recommend any politician that does that. Jen Williams, his opponent, seems like a pretty standard-issue Democrat, although her insistence on talking about “small business interests” does not inspire us. Then again, Tom Abinanti’s decision to sue to keep her off the ballot also leaves a bad taste in our mouths. In the end, this race will probably come down to how potent the vaccine issue is. If Abinanti loses, then, well, he deserved it, even if Williams doesn’t necessarily deserve to win.

AD-93 southern and northeastern Westchester County (Harrison, Armonk, Chappaqua)

Kristen Browde vs. Chris Burdick vs. Jeremiah Frei-Pearson vs. Mark Jaffe vs. Alexander Roithmayr

David Buchwald left this district open to run for Congress, and it appears that everyone has decided to follow behind him. The progressives in this race are Kristen Browde and Chris Burdick. Burdick, Supervisor for the town of Bedford (pop. 18,000) has the WFP endorsement, but Browde has the backing of Alessandra Biaggi and Catherine Parker, two of the better Westchester politicians, and has been more strident in what she stands for. She’d also be New York’s first openly trans elected official. Meanwhile, Jeremiah Frei-Pearson and Alexander Roithmayr, are more establishment moderates. Roithmayr in particular is Buchwald’s chief of staff. Mark Jaffe, a Chamber of Commerce president, is the worst of the bunch.

AD-108 Albany, Troy, Cohoes

John McDonald III (i) vs. Sam Fein

Sam Fein, a member of the Albany County legislature, has been recruited by the Working Families Party to run against incumbent John McDonald III. McDonald’s votes in the most recent session, where he opposed expanded gun control and driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants, had made it clear that he needed to go. Upstate doesn’t really have progressive infrastructure on the same scale that the city does, so moderate Democrats often skate by. This could signal the beginning of that trend reversing. McDonald, a former mayor of the suburban town of Cohoes, lives in the least urban part of this district and is the kind of guy to still proudly list multiple cop endorsements on his website. You have to wonder if maybe his brand of politics has overstayed its welcome.

AD-125 Ithaca, Cortland

Sujata Gibson vs. Beau Harbin vs. Lisa Hoeschele vs. Anna Kelles vs. Jason Leifer vs. Jordan Lesser

The college town of Ithaca has a reputation for progressive representation, and it looks like that will continue here, with a full roster of candidates that promise to uphold that mantle. The best choice is probably County Legislator Anna Kelles, the pick of the Working Families Party, Cynthia Nixon, and Zephyr Teachout.

AD-136 Rochester, Irondequoit, Brighton

Sarah Clark vs. Nelson Lopatin vs. Justin Wilcox

County Legislator Justin Wilcox, who has the backing of the county party, is the establishment choice here. He’s not outright terrible in the County Legislature, but he does take cop money and his official stance on healthcare is that he was the legislative director for Joe Morelle, who opposed the state single payer plan. Sarah Clark, who’s been endorsed by a variety of progressive groups, including Working Families Party, is his main competitor, while Nelson Lopatin looks like he’ll come in third.

AD-137 Rochester

Ernest Flagler vs. Ann Lewis vs. Demond Meeks vs. Silvano Orsi

Demond Meeks, a labor organizer, is the best candidate in this four-way race. Silvano Orsi is best known for running a Little Italy project (which he’s very concerned about drugs and prostitutes getting into), and seems more like a novelty candidate than anything else. We’re also pretty sure he’s the man who was assaulted by the brother of the United Arab Emirates’s ruler in 2003 after rejecting his sexual advances, but that seems like such a weird backstory that we’re holding out the possibility it could be two people with the same name who look alike and were both in Geneva around that time. Regardless, he and Ann Lewis are both less likely to win than either Meeks or Ernest Flagler, a County Legislator with establishment support in this race.

AD-138 Rochester, Chili

Harry Bronson (i) vs. Alex Yudelson

Harry Bronson has been a mostly pretty solid incumbent. He bucked other prominent Monroe County Democrats to support drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants last year, and he cosponsored the New York Health Act, the state’s single payer bill that only passed the Assembly because it was destined to die in the Senate. Alex Yudelson worked as a policy advisor in the Obama Whitehouse. This is seemingly the main thrust of his campaign, that he worked for Barack Obama and Joe Biden, as it’s everywhere on his campaign lit.

His policy ideas aren’t openly moderate, but there’s a Buttigieg-esque slipperiness (he did indeed support ex-Mayor Pete in the presidential race and thinks Bernie's on the GOP’s side) to the whole campaign, that was perhaps best exemplified when he called teachers unions “dark money” a few days ago. He also won the party endorsement because his dad, a party official, was running the show and changed some rules last minute. This race may or not be a proxy battle between Bronson and Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren (Yudelson’s current boss) over control of Rochester schools. Regardless, Bronson’s in for a tough fight and we’re hoping he pulls it off.

AD-140 Tonawanda, North Tonawanda, Kenmore, part of Buffalo

Bill Conrad vs. Kevin Stocker

Bill Conrad is a pretty boring choice for this mostly suburban district, but Kevin Stocker was a Republican until 4 years ago, so boring is fine here. Luckily, Stocker isn’t garnering much support.

AD-149 part of Buffalo, part of Lackawanna, Hamburg

Adam Bojak vs. Robert Quintana vs. Jonathan Rivera

Adam Bojak is a tenant’s rights attorney endorsed by the local and national DSA. He’s unsurprisingly a strong supporter of public housing, as well as the good cause eviction bill which died in the state legislature last year. He’d also join the growing number of New York legislator’s trying to pass a statewide single-payer system, and break with many Erie County Democrats by supporting the Green Light Law, which allowed undocumented immigrants access to driver’s licences. 

Also in the race is Robert Quintana, an ex-cop and ex-Buffalo City Councilman who had a habit of locking up reporters he didn’t like, and whose plans to return to office were cut short in 2012 when he was arrested for 47 counts of wire fraud against the Buffalo police department, totaling over half a million dollars, a six-year legal case that ended in 2018 without any prison time, somehow. Finally, there is Jon Rivera, an Erie County public works official who is neither a Buffalo politician nor an ex-cop, but is the son of a man who is both. Rivera is the favorite in this race. He’s been endorsed by the outgoing incumbent, a handful of unions, and the county party itself. Bojak, meanwhile, is strapped for cash, but hopefully can rely on the more conservative Quintana taking some votes from the right away from Rivera.

Queens Borough President

Costa Constantinides vs. Elizabeth Crowley vs. Anthony Miranda vs. Donovan Richards vs. Dao Yin

This is a primary for the November special election to fill the remaining year of Melinda Katz’s term as Borough President since she took office as District Attorney. (There was originally a separate special election, in which all candidates would compete on one ballot regardless of party, but Cuomo canceled that because of the pandemic.) The main contenders appear to be city councilors Costa Constantinides and Donovan Richards; Richards, who represents southern Queens, is the machine choice, while progressives have consolidated behind Constantinides, who represents western Queens. Businessman Dao Yin, former police officer Anthony Miranda, and former city councilor Elizabeth Crowley (Joe Crowley’s cousin) have fallen behind. The borough presidency is not a particularly powerful office; it is, however, a launching pad for higher office, and it would be good to take that launching pad away from the machine, at least until 2021, when the winner of the 2020 special election will face voters again for a full four-year term.

Westchester County DA Yonkers, northern suburbs of New York

Anthony Scarpino (i) vs. Mimi Rocah

We’re not fans of Mimi Rocah, we really aren’t. She’s openly averse to progressive politics, from Bernie Sanders to criminal justice reformers in her own district. But incumbent Anthony Scarpino manages to be worse, an old-school thin blue line type, and Rocah, as unimpressive as she is, can point to places where she is to his left, most notably on a police misconduct whistleblower report that Scarpino buried. Rocah has managed to spend close to a million dollars in this race, almost twice of what Scarpino has, and looks like a mild favorite in this race. It’s a small step forward, we guess.

Albany County DA Albany and suburbs

David Soares (i) vs. Matt Toporowski

Unlike in Westchester County, we can be excited about this challenger. David Soares, once a criminal justice reformer and candidate of a newly insurgent progeessive movement in the state in 2004, has left his roots, and has most recently led the charge, as head of the state’s DA association, to roll back bail reform in the state, and should never be forgiven for that, just as he shouldn’t be forgiven for helping to kill a state commission on prosecutorial misconduct. Matt Toporowski, a former defense attorney and assistant DA, supports the original bail laws and has promised decriminalization of marijuana, seeking shorter and lesser sentences, and even diverting many charges all together into a restorative justice program. He’s supported by Bernie, the Working Families Party, and a collection of other progressive politicians and groups. They’ve run about even in the money race, and who wins is anyone’s guess.

Tompkins County DA Ithaca

Matt Van Houten (i) vs. Ed Kopko

In a story we’ve all heard before, a tough-on-crime DA is faced with a primary because tough-on-crime politics have fallen out of favor with their progressive constituents. Here, the DA is Matt Van Houten, known for prosecuting a Black woman who attempted to defend her friend from being tased by the cops, and the constituency is Tompkins County, an island of progressive politics in the sea of conservatism that is the rural Southern Tier in upstate New York. Kopko’s platform, like Mimi Rocah’s in Westchester County, isn’t exactly radical, but he supports New York’s 2019 bail reform laws, promises to publicly release the office’s list of unreliable cops, and was the defense attorney for the Black woman in the aforementioned prosecution. (A judge acquitted the woman’s friend, and another judge threw out the charges against her while placing the blame squarely on the police.) 

Kentucky

SD-37 Louisville

Katie Brophy vs. Garrett Dean vs. Di Tran vs. David Yates

David Yates, a former president of the Louisville Metro Council, seems to be the favorite here; he’s the only elected official in the race, and his three opponents united to sue to keep him off the ballot because he goes by his middle name rather than his legal first name, Charles--a move that frankly reeks of desperation. None of the candidates particularly impress us--Yates opposed making Louisville a sanctuary city because he feared Republican state legislators would retaliate, Dean talks a lot about bipartisanship, and all four candidates seem generally averse to talking policy.

HD-40 Louisville

Nima Kulkarni (i) vs. Dennis Horlander

Nima Kulkarni resoundingly unseated longtime incumbent Dennis Horlander in 2018 in a race that centered around ethics as much as it did policy, and Horlander is unfortunately back for a rematch. Seeing as he only got 25% of the vote in 2018 to Kulkarni’s 47%, he probably won’t make it back into the legislature; it’s still worth watching.

Louisville Council, District 4 Downtown, Smoketown, NuLu

Robert LeVertis Bell vs. Jecorey Arthur vs. Darryl Young vs. Athena Fields vs. Adam Caperton vs. Ron Bolton

This is a wide-open race to succeed retiring councilwoman Barbara Sexton Smith in a district where no Republicans have filed, making the primary tantamount to election. Robert LeVertis Bell, a public school teacher active in DSA and Kentucky’s Red for Ed movement (best known for a teachers’ strike in 2018 and a wave of organizing which led to the defeat of Gov. Matt Bevin and several Republican state lawmakers), is the best choice, and if he wins, Louisville will join the growing list of major cities to have elected democratic socialists to public office in the last decade.

Louisville Council, District 10 Audubon Park, Lynnview

Pat Mulvihill (i) vs. Ryan Fenwick

Incumbent Pat Mulvihill is an ally of Mayor Greg Fischer, and he’s not particularly good; he sponsored an ordinance cracking down on panhandling, which really just criminalizes poverty, and has been sued for failing to comply with a court order requiring him to hand over communications with other council members. Fenwick, like Robert LeVertis Bell in District 4, is a DSA member running with the organization’s support; he also has Planned Parenthood’s local arm in his corner. He previously challenged Fischer in the 2018 Democratic primary.