In the Democratic primary to the New York State Assembly, a bevy of leftist insurgents — backed by the progressive Working Families Party and Democratic Socialists of America — hoped to topple a group of long-serving incumbent officials.
But with the election results coming in early on Wednesday, it looked like the challengers had largely fallen short.
From New York City to Schenectady, numerous long-term MPs, such as Bronx Councilman Jeffrey Dinowitz, seemed poised to claim their party’s nomination and advance to the November general election.
mr. First elected in 1994, Dinowitz led his challenger, a former Senate aide, Jessica Altagracia Woolford, 62 percent to 38 percent, with 80 percent of the vote counted.
“It was the greatest honor to serve the community that raised me, that raised my family,” Mr. Dinowitz said in a statement declaring victory. “I’ve fought for and delivered for our progressive values my entire career, and I can’t wait to continue performing for the North Bronx in Albany.”
Other Assembly members who brought the insurgents back included Inez E. Dickens of Harlem and Nikki Lucas of Brooklyn, who defeated Working Families-backed challengers, as did Deborah Glick in the West Village and Angelo Santabarbara in Schenectady.
The benefits of the incumbency also benefited Democratic socialists in the Assembly, including Marcela Mitaynes, Emily Gallagher and Phara Souffrant Forrest.
The brutality of many of the Democratic primary races, which have waged significant negative campaigns on both sides, have contributed to a tense struggle within the party.
Democratic Party chairman Jay Jacobs claimed the key challenges exposed the “arrogance” and impatience of progressive activists whose efforts he feared would jeopardize the supremacy of Democrats in Albany. .
Tension was heightened by the involvement of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who endorsed a slew of candidates across the state.
One of those candidates, Sarahana Shrestha, led incumbent Councilman Kevin Cahill by just over 500 votes, with more than 95 percent of the expected vote in the Hudson Valley district.
Ms. Shrestha, a climate activist and graphic designer, has also been supported by the Democratic Socialists of America and has promoted a fiercely progressive platform focused on the climate crisis. Her campaign sought to portray Mr Cahill, who has held the chair since 1992, as entrenched and unreachable.
“Thank you to everyone who has built this movement,” said Ms. Shrestha. posted on Twitter on Tuesday evening. “We won because the Hudson Valley is poised to lead this entire state forward in the fight for the bright future we deserve.”
Despite the fact that in recent years Democrats have come together to pass landmark climate and marijuana legislation, they are in disagreement on how far to the left to steer the state.
During the latest session, Democratic lawmakers were divided on whether or not to tighten the state’s bail laws so that more people could be detained before trial, as requested by Gov. Kathy Hochul. And while some progressive approaches to acute problems — such as providing tenants with protection from eviction during the pandemic — have easily reached consensus, others could allow permanent structural changes, such as requiring landlords to have a “charity” to evict tenants. and empowering state power to build renewable energy, are meeting opposition.
This year’s primaries were marred by chaos from the start.
After years of split primaries that confused voters and cost millions to administer, New York finally decided to collapse its local and federal primaries into one day in June.
But hopes for simplicity were dashed when a judge ruled that Democrats had screwed up the state’s political maps. To accommodate the time it would take the court-appointed special master to sign new impartial maps, the congressional and senate primaries were postponed to August 23.
While the assembly lines were also declared unconstitutional, the primary for timing reasons took place in June, along with those for governor and lieutenant governor. To complicate matters further, a judge ruled that the assembly lines should also be redrawn, but only after this year’s parliamentary elections have been elected using the maps deemed unconstitutional.