One Month to Early Voting: Races to Watch in New York's June Primary Elections
(l-r) Democratic candidates for Governor Tom Suozzi, Kathy Hochul & Jumaane Williams
*Reposted from Gotham Gazette. Written by Samar Khurshid.*
New York is slated to hold two separate primary elections this year after a chaotic redistricting process led to legal challenges and United States House of Representatives and State Senate district lines had to be redrawn.
The primaries for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, State Assembly, and U.S. Senate will be held in June, with early voting June 18-26 and primary day the 28th.
Congressional and State Senate primaries will be held in August with early voting from August 13 to 21 and primary day the 23rd.
The deadline to register to vote in the June primary is June 3 for in-person registrations, while mailed registration forms must be postmarked June 3 and received by the Board of Elections by June 8.
New York has closed party primaries, meaning voters must be registered with the party in order to vote in its primary. The February 14 deadline to switch party affiliation before the primary has long passed.
Most of the action in the June primaries for New York voters is in the two major party primaries in the race for Governor; the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor; and a number of competitive State Assembly Democratic primaries, with several notable contests centered in Manhattan and Brooklyn, among others.
In the most competitive Assembly races, some are for open seats where the incumbent is not seeking reelection and some are where an incumbent is being challenged from the left.
Governor and Lieutenant Governor
Governor Kathy Hochul, the state’s first female governor, is running for her first full-term since taking office in August last year in the wake of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation amid scandal.
Hochul faces two opponents in the June Democratic primary, U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi from Long Island and New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. The governor has a slew of advantages heading into the election, outperforming her challengers in polling and accumulating a massive campaign warchest.
Hochul’s campaign continues to deal with the resignation of her first choice as Lieutenant Governor, Brian Benjamin, who was indicted on public corruption charges and resigned. The Legislature passed a bill that allowed Benjamin to get off the ballot and Hochul appointed his successor, U.S. Rep. Antonio Delgado, who will also be her unofficial running-mate in the primary (the two positions are voted on separately in the party primaries before becoming tickets for the general election).
Suozzi, a moderate Democrat, is running on a platform of tackling rising crime and reducing taxes, as well as his experience as a former mayor and county executive and time in Congress. His running-mate is Diana Reyna, former deputy borough president in Brooklyn and a former New York City Council member.
Williams, a progressive Democrat, previously ran against Hochul and lost in the 2018 primary when she was serving as Lieutenant Governor. He is running a leftist campaign and has been endorsed by the Working Families Party. His running-mate is Ana María Archila, a longtime activist and nonprofit leader from Queens.
In the Republican primary for Governor, four candidates are vying for the nomination. They include former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino, who unsuccessfully challenged Cuomo in 2014; Andrew Giuliani, former aide to President Donald Trump and son of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani; businessman Harry Wilson; and U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island.
Alison Esposito, a former NYPD deputy inspector, is seeking the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor as Zeldin’s running-mate. She faces no opponents and is all but assured to be on the general election ticket with whichever Republican gubernatorial candidate prevails in the primary.
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