Last week, I wrote about the special election in New York’s 9th Congressional District to replace Anthony Weiner. But there are a number of concurrent special elections to fill Assembly seats on September 13th as well. Here’s a quick rundown of all six of them, along with a handy user’s guide to electoral fusion in New York.
A quick note on the parties noted: New York is one of only eight states in the US that practices electoral fusion, and small parties play a bigger role here than anywhere else in the country. For those unfamiliar, the quick and dirty version is that instead of nominating their own candidates, small parties can choose to endorse candidates from other parties, who will then appear on the ballot multiple times, once on each line for which they have received the endorsement. Voters are able to vote for the candidates on whichever party line they prefer, and on election night, candidates are allowed to pool their votes from all the different party lines. The more lines you have as a candidate, the better your chances for winning. You’ll often find alliances between parties that have similar platforms – Democrats and Working Families or Greens, Republicans and Conservatives – but that will sometimes vary based on the candidate or particular quirks of certain areas.
The recognized parties in New York State and the order in which they appear on the ballot are Democrat (D), Republican (R), Conservative (C), Working Families (W), Independence (I), and Green (G). Additionally, candidates can use the “opportunity to ballot” process whereby they circulate petitions to create a single party line for that election. (This is how we ended up with last year’s “Rent is Too Damn High” party, and an actual legitimate “Tea Party” line on the ballot.) Politics in New York is a strange and interesting world.
And so with that out of the way, onward to the races!
DISTRICT 23
- Where is it?: Parts of Queens
- Candidates: Phillip Goldfeder (D, I, W) and Jane Deacy (R, C)
- This seat was vacated when Assemblymember Audrey Pheffer took office as Queens County Clerk at the start of the year.
DISTRICT 27
- Where is it?: Parts of Queens
- Candidates: Michael Simanowitz (D, W, I), Marco DeSena (R, C), and Justin Wax Jacobs (New Yorkers for Reform)
- This seat was vacated when Assemblymember Nettie Mayersohn retired in April, citing that she wanted to spend more time with her grandchildren.
DISTRICT 54
- Where is it?: Part of Brooklyn
- Candidates: Rafael Espinal, Jr (D, R, C, United We Can), Jesus Gonzalez (W), and Deidra Towns (Community First)
- This seat was vacated when Assemblymember Darryl Towns resigned to take an appointment with the Cuomo Administration as Commissioner of the NYS Department of Housing and Community Renewal earlier this year.
DISTRICT 73
- Where is it?: Part of Manhattan
- Candidates: Dan Quart (D, W) and Paul Niehaus (R, I)
- This seat was vacated when Assemblymember Jonathan Bing resigned to take an appointment with the Cuomo Administration as Special Deputy Superintendent of the New York Liquidation Bureau.
DISTRICT 116
- Where is it?: Part of Oneida County, including Utica
- Candidates: Anthony Brindisi (D, W, I) and Gregory Johnson (R, C)
- This seat was vacated when Assemblymember RoAnn Destito resigned to take an appointment with the Cuomo Administration as Commissioner of the Office of General Services.
DISTRICT 144
- Where is it?: Part of Erie County, including part of Buffalo
- Candidates: Sean Ryan (D, W), Sean Kipp (R, C), and Gregory Horn (G)
- This seat was vacated when Assemblymember Sam Hoyt resigned to take an appointment with the Cuomo Administration as Senior Vice President for Regional Economic Development at the Empire State Development Corporation.
