Primary Elections Yield Few Surprises

Last night was a crazy night at Nacho Mama's--but it wasn't because of their ever-growing popularity and drink specials. Instead, the emotions running high at the local restaurant and bar were the product of the New York State Senate's 31st District incumbent Eric T. Schneiderman's victory over former City Councilman Guillermo Linares. When Schneiderman declared victory, the results were 65 percent for Schneiderman and 35 percent for Linares.

"This is absolutely a victory for labor in New York State," Senator Schneiderman announced to the bar packed with his cheering supporters, a diverse collection of city activists, labor union members and leaders, and big-time state Democrats. "We are sending a message," he declared. "This is not just one victory. This is the first of many victories for the working men and women of New York state."

Flanked by former Public Advocate and mayoral candidate Mark Green, Manhattan Borough President C. Virigina Fields, and the recently retired 69th District State Assemblyman Ed Sullivan, Schneiderman stood at the back of the bar and brought the crowd to its feet with his popular slogan. "Together, look what we can get done."

In a State Senate that will likely continue to be dominated by Republicans and in a district dominated by the Democrats, Schneiderman's incumbent victory may not have seemed politically significant enough to bring such top leadership to his side. This particular race, however, meant much more to state Democrats than just the retaining of an outspoken, progressive senator. To Schneiderman and his supporters, the victory represented a major defeat of forces in the state capitol at Albany that he described as "conservatives and their collaborators."

A recent endorsement of Schneiderman in The New York Times, popularized by bus-stop posters in the Bronx, summarized the dispute: Senator Scheiderman's aggressive decisions as the Democratic election committee chairman, pitting tough Democrats against incumbent Republicans, put him at odds with the majority. The Senate's subsequent gerrymandering of Upper Manhattan modified Schneiderman's 31st district from the mostly white, Jewish community of Riverdale in the Bronx to include many Hispanic neighborhoods in Washington Heights and Harlem. This move was allegedly intended to change the demographic significantly enough to bring a Hispanic candidate into office and push the outspoken Schneiderman out.

According to state Republicans, the redistricting was not political but was the result of new census data that required an increase in the number of State Senators from 61 to 62 to accommodate a growing population. Other changes included the fact that two Republican incumbents were forced to compete in the 19th district and two Democrat incumbents vied for the 28th.

Despite the support of Mayor Bloomberg and popular Hispanic leaders' support for Linares, considered a capable leader by Democrats and Republicans across the board, Schneiderman was able to hold on to his seat and send a message to state Republicans.

One woman who came out to support the Senator, Laura Braslow of Citizen Action, a grassroots organization working for social and racial causes, believes that "Schneiderman is one of the few true progressives in our state government." She echoed the general sentiment of the crowd in saying that "everything that happens in this state happens with the unending resistance of conservatives. This victory is mud in their eyes."

Katie Schmid, CC '01, made clear that this was a celebration about defeating Linares. "[He] was a very effective council member, but if Guillermo had won, it would've been because the Republican party fixed the election." She described Schneiderman as one of the very few state politicians willing to not kow-tow to the majority's interests in Albany. "Eric is strong. He doesn't have a lick of fear in him."

 

69th District State Assembly Results

Danny O'Donnell, Community Board 9 member and 12-year neighborhood resident, won yesterday's election for Democratic candidate for the assemblymember of the 69th District. At 11 p.m. last night, with 12 percent of precincts and 2071 votes accounted for, O'Donnell had won one-third of the district's votes. Joyce Johnson, who received the second largest number of votes among the eight democratic candidates, won 23 percent. Cynthia Doty, who worked for current Assemblymember Edward Sullivan for eight years, was third, receiving 15 percent of the votes.

Both Johnson and Doty had conceded the election to O'Donnell by 10:30 p.m. last night. "We are thrilled by the results," O'Donnell said on his way to his victory party at Carne restaurant on Broadway and 105th Street yesterday evening. But O'Donnell said that he was not taking this win as a sure passage to the assembly seat. "There's a long time before I get there," he said. "We still have another election to win in November."

O'Donnell will be running against Republican Party candidate Kalman Sporn and Green Party candidate Ronald MacKinnon in the Nov. 5 general election. Given the Democratic leaning of the district's politics, O'Donnell is the likely winner of the election.

Johnson's campaign manager, Leo Glickman, said that Johnson planned to maintain politically and socially active in the district, despite her loss. "First of all, she's taking a vacation," Glickman said. Johnson "plans to continue to be very active in this community. And she's planning to run again" in two years when the next assembly term ends.

Candidate Steve Strauss, who received 7 percent of the district votes, said that he would maintain his political involvement as well, and will be working on some other campaigns in the city for the November election. Strauss said that he is confident about O'Donnell's leadership. "I congratulated him on a very solid victory," Strauss said. "He'll do a fine job, I'm sure of that."

The other five candidates could not be reached for comment after the results were released. Ari Goodman received 11 percent of the votes, Louis NuÒez received 7 percent, Michael Brown received 3 percent, and Francisco Spies received 0.3 percent. This election was the first since 1976 in which current Assemblymember Sullivan was not a candidate. Sullivan was reelected as the district assemblymember twelve times. He announced in April that he was retiring at the end of this term in December to write fiction novels and political essays.

O'Donnell, who is former talk show host Rosie O'Donnell's brother, received Sullivan's and many other political leaders' endorsements, as well as the endorsement of The New York Times. O'Donnell, like many of the other candidates, professed to continue many of Sullivan's policies, primarily in the areas of affordable housing and education.

"I've devoted my free time to improving the quality of life for people in this community," O'Donnell said earlier this week. "I view this race as just an extension of my life in public work."