The latest in the race for the 10th Congressional District

To recap from the post earlier today: Jerry Nadler, the incumbent in NY10 since 1992, is now running in NY12 encompassing the Upper Westside and Upper Eastside. Our district’s northern boundary is now more or less 16th Street and the district ends just south and east of Borough Park. The primary is August 23.

I am including a bit on the candidates who have, so far, raised some money and/or registered with the FEC. Mondaire Jones has $2.7 million in his coffers, and the others have about a quarter million. Not sure what de Blasio has saved up yet since he has yet to register with the FEC.

MONDAIRE JONES
The first openly gay Black members of Congress, Jones currently represents the 17th District in Westchester and Putnam counties and lives in Westchester but was recently drawn out of his own district and into the 16th. However there is no constitutional requirement that a candidate live in the district (they most only live in the state), so he jumped into the race for this open seat in order to avoid a tough race in the general election in the 17th and a tough primary in the 16th. His rationale: the district includes Greenwich Village, which he considers the birthplace of the LGBTQ+ movement. The Intercept has a good story on why he switched districts, if you want the nitty gritty.

He was raised in Rockland County (in Spring Valley), went to Stanford undergrad and Harvard Law School and worked for the Department of Justice and the Obama Administration. He was a litigator here in the city before was elected to Congress in 2016.

BILL DE BLASIO
I don’t need to fill you in much on him since his strong suit and his weakness are the same: name recognition. But a lot of people have voted for him before, and his base is solidly in the Brooklyn half of the district. City & State asks a bunch of talking heads to weigh in on the race, and de Blasio seems to come out on top.

YUH-LINE NIOU
Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, who currently represents Chinatown, the Financial District (and lives there) and Battery Park City, has toggled between a couple races in this primary season but jumped on this seat once it opened up. She made the announcement in Columbus Park. Niou was the first Asian-American to represent the district in Albany, elected in 2016 to Shelly Silver’s seat. She was born in Taiwan (she’s 38) and immigrated here as a child, grew up in the Pacific Northwest and came to the city to get her master’s from Baruch. She is openly autistic and her election would make her the highest ranking autistic elected official in the country.

BRIAN ROBINSON
Robinson is a Tribecan and new to politics; he sold the company he founded in order to run for the seat. Read more in my recent profile here.

ASHMI SHETH
Sheth lives in Hell’s Kitchen so like Nadler, her home was drawn out of the district. But she seems to be sticking with her plans to run for NY10. Sheth immigrated with her family from India and grew up and went to college in Maryland. She moved to the city to get her master’s in public policy at Columbia and worked for just under two years for the Federal Reserve before deciding to run against Nadler.

ELIZABETH KIM
Kim is an applied behavioral scientist at Spotify (and before that at Jet.com), where she conducts “theory-driven experiments to understand why people do what they do and nudge behavior to create a better experience.” She was a psychology major at Duke, graduating in 2017, and grew up in rural Georgia helping her father, a Korean immigrant, run his business.

ALREADY DROPPED OUT
After declaring recently and registering with the FEC, Brad Hoylman has already dropped out of this race and pivoted instead to a newly drawn State Senate race.

THE FULL LIST REGISTERED WITH THE FEC
The deadline to register with the FEC is June 10. Other than the list above, there are four other people who *have* registered, including one Republican, Benine Hamden. Bob Wyman, Yan Xiong and Ian Medina are also on the list but have yet to raise any funds.

 

20 Comments

  1. With the state of this city, I think we can all agree we don’t need more radicals. Most of these candidates are on record still to this day wanting to ” defund the police “. I checked. I’m a life long Democrat. I’m a senior. I’m scared to walk the streets and we are dealing with candidates like this:

    https://nypost.com/2022/02/02/ny-assemblywoman-yuh-line-niou-slammed-for-anti-police-tweet/

  2. City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera (East Village, LES, Flatiron, Murray Hill) participated in the District 10 candidates forum this week so it appears she is in https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2022/05/race-new-yorks-10th-congressional-district-begins/367425/

    • If you like De Blasio, then she is your do nothing candidate. They are both the same. To use “progressive” in the same sentence is a joke. Do some research before you vote!!! Neither will win.

  3. The array of candidates are being called a “crowd.”

    More apt is “carousel.”

    Jumping in and stepping out. Who knows who/how many will be in after the July 4th holiday? I am holding further opinions until then.

    June primary results should be in and the picture will become clearer.

  4. Can someone tell me out of these bunch which will serve downtown the best and will fight for safer streets NOT defund the police and help downtown

    • Sandra,

      Brian Robinson is the only candidate committed to public safety. Yuh line gave us the bail reform bill which leaves violent repeat offenders out on the streets until they kill someone.

  5. I have not seen a more principled person in politics than Yuh Line Niou, who also seems to work for downtown 24-7. We should all make it a priority not to rely on NY Post talking points about a retweet for which Niou apologized, but rather the facts of her principles and accomplishments.

    Among many other accomplishments, Niou was one of the few legislators to vote against the Covid legislation early in the pandemic that gave Cuomo virtually unlimited powers, because, as she stated, that was not good for the people of NY. We all know she was proven right.

    As with every policy stand she takes, Niou advocates for thoughtful reforms. Here’s her statement during the height of protests against the murder of George Floyd. There is no mention of “defund the police”, rather there is advocacy for better protection for businesses, as well as necessary police reforms, to make NYC safer for all.
    https://nyassembly.gov/mem/Yuh-Line-Niou/story/92838

    • Yuh Line Niou’s relatively recent actions supporting defund the police and bail reform are dangerous for the city. Heck she even moved out of Harlem because she thought it was dangerous. Such dishonest unethical people should not be running for Congress.

  6. this is an important race for tribeca residents. it would be nice if we can coalesce around a centrist candidate who is looking to improve safety and quality of life.

    we all vent about these issues on TC (me included). but this is a time to try to make a difference.

    TC – can you help profile these candidates as the race continues so we can vet them?

  7. ‘Openly gay’, ‘openly autistic’, are these the new credentials in politics?
    I like to see who can give an honest answer to the decades old fake goods vendors on Canal/Broadway problem or the ever dirtier streets in the area. Oh, and the outdoor dining sheds? Ever growing occupation of sidewalks by restaurants tables and chairs?
    Out of control pot smoking everywhere?

  8. Robinson has been the only one hammering home the real public safety points since he challenged Jerry Nadler 8 months ago. Opposes defunding police. Wants good police to be able to do their job. Has a federal solution to hate crimes, and isn’t scared to admit that their is a link between neighborhood violence and these negligently operated shelters. He plans to bring federal oversight to these shelters who are failing this city, failing the homeless population with unaddressed mental health issues, never receive proper audits, or answer to any concrete performance metrics. You want a candidate who takes public seriously, there is only one.

  9. If you believe Yuh-Line Niou the best person for the job (spoiler, she’s not), by all means, vote for her. However, if you’re planning to vote for her because voting for an autistic candidate gives you “the feels” or because you think her election will advance the autistic-rights and disability-rights movements, please reconsider.

    Bad representation is not better than no representation, and Niou is one of the worst representatives of the autistic community. As a state legislator, she threw the entire autistic community under the bus by supporting legislation that expanded the applied behavior analysis (ABA) industry. (Google “ABA abuse” for more information on why ABA is harmful to autistic people.)

    Additionally, how can one even be considered “openly autistic” without ever having uttered the word “autistic” in public? The autistic community deserves much, much better than Niou. If there’s any justice in this world, she’ll lose the primary and fade back into obscurity once her Assembly term ends.

  10. In my book, the top issue is public safety and getting crime under control. This obviously refers to serious crime, but surely we have to address the quality-of-life “minor” crimes as well, for their own sake, and because ignoring “minor” crimes may encourage more serious crimes.

    Among the “minor” plagues of our neighborhood:
    – reckless driving
    – graffiti (the beautiful building on Canal & Broadway once again completely vandalized)
    – trash and litter
    – public urination
    – NOISE from vehicles – purposeless horn-honking, intentionally modified exhausts, booming sound systems that can be heard three blocks away
    – yes, the illegal counterfeit vendors….take a visit to Canal and Lispenard on any weekend and you won’t even be able to walk on the sidewalks. It has spread since the pandemic to take over multiple blocks on the weekends. Allowing this to continue damages legitimate businesses, blocks the sidewalks; counterfeit sales have also been linked to organized crime and terrorism. Why no enforcement? How can there be no solution to this problem after decades? It should be simple. Repeatedly fine and confiscate all the goods.

    Lack of enforcement on these and other “minor” issues makes a mockery of the law.

    So I would be very interested to know what the candidates have to say about all this (and what power if any they really have to do anything about it all).

  11. Dan Goldman is also planning on running. I think he lives in Tribeca as I’ve seen him around the neighborhood several times.

    https://www.axios.com/2022/05/31/daniel-goldman-impeachment-congress-new-york

    I will also note that everyone who’s main issue of crime and the police, this is for Congress, not local police issues. You should be directing your angst toward politicians that can actually impact changes; City Council, Mayor’s office, NYPD, etc. Members of Congress might pay you lip service over your issues, but they have very little legislative control over these local administrative items.

    • Thank you @DTWNNYC.

    • This is a very good point. One of the key federal issues with a significant local impact that candidates should answer about with respect to Tribeca plus the rest of the west side (can’t speak to the Brooklyn areas of the district) is their position on the Army Corps of Engineers Harbor & Tributary Study (HATS) and how they plan to push for that work. Not nearly enough people talk about this.

      The entire west side up to ~42nd Street is Zone 1 and 2 hurricane evacuation. The city projects a 500-year storm in 2050 would flood all the way to Church Street in Tribeca and 8th Ave in Chelsea. The time to build resiliency measures is now. Unfortunately, the Hudson River along Congressional District 10 falls under federal jurisdiction for resiliency measures. South of N. Moore St. down around BPC/the Battery and up the east side all falls under NYC’s capital plan. The City is already commencing work there, but the feds delayed HATS (thanks, Donald) and will require congressional approval to get funding for whatever work is eventually deemed necessary, which will be a monumental task.

      Our neighborhood and those north of us are going to remain at much greater risk of sea level rise and storm surge for a far longer period of time than those south of us because so few seem to care or even know about this study.

      Another major issue is the SALT cap, a double taxation that hammered homeowners here. Every candidate needs to answer on that.

      • The SALT deduction effectively gives the highest-income taxpayers a large tax break. It is a genuine political problem.

        The SALT cap has exposed how expensive and poorly administered many state and local programs for health, education, and welfare really are. Before no taxpayer in “blue states” really cared, because the feds subsidized all this spending through the uncapped SALT deduction.

  12. I’m a resident of NY-10, and I found this article by searching for news about this race. There are several embarrassing errors in this article. If you need a copy editor, let me know! I’m cheap!

  13. Yep, I like Dan Goldman, progressive where it is needed, abortion, climate, yet knows to take a more centered approach when it comes to issues like policing and safety.

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