Change strikes again - New York victories

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Thursday September 17, 2009 · 10:05 AM PDT

2009/09/17 · 10:05

Tuesday’s election results were simply incredible. Two major citywide upsets. Two major milestones for civil rights and equality in New York City. And seven inspiring, first-time candidates for City Council made it across the finish line.

The lesson is clear: when people organize and act, we can carry on the wave of progressive change that started with Barack Obama’s victory last November.

The Working Families Party started this election year with a simple idea. If we have a community organizer in the White House, why not put a few community organizers in City Hall?

So we scoured the city, looking for neighborhood leaders, tenant activists, and even the occasional progressive policy advocate. We found some incredible candidates. And after months of hard work – knocking on thousands of doors, recruiting hundreds of volunteers, after talking to voters day-in, day-out about the issues that matter in their community – we did it.

Here are the highlights:

Progressive champion Bill de Blasio led the pack in a four-way race for Public Advocate. De Blasio will now go head-to-head with Mark Green in a runoff election that’s just two weeks away.

John Liu also surged to first place in a crowded field of City Comptroller contestants. He’s also bound for a runoff in his attempt to become the first Asian American elected to Citywide office.

On the City Council, there were even more progressive victories for WFP candidates:

Debi Rose won handily to become the first African American ever elected from Staten Island.

In Queens, not one but two WFP-endorsed Council candidates —Danny Dromm and Jimmy Van Bramer — made history as the first openly gay elected officials from the borough. All this on the heels of Julissa Ferreras’ City Council win this February to become the first Latina elected in Queens.

Tenant activist and community leader Jumaane Williams scored a major upset, defeating incumbent Councilmember Kendall Stewart in a very tight 6-way race.

Reformer Ydanis Rodriguez blew away the competition in Washington Heights.

And finally, Brad Lander — one of New York City’s leading voices on sustainable development — took victory in a hotly-contested race for Bill de Blasio’s vacated Brooklyn City Council seat. To his north, the energetic Stephen Levin cruised to victory.

Not every progressive winner was a newcomer - some very worthy D-WFP incumbents were also returned to office. And, one race where WFP stayed out deserves special mention: insurgent Margaret Chin became the first Asian American elected official in Manhattan.

We didn’t win every race. Four of our candidates - Richard Aborn, S.J. Jung, Lynn Schulman, and Mark Winston-Griffith - ran great campaigns and came close to pulling off big upsets.
It was a great night, but it’s only the beginning. There’s lots more work to do, and as always, we’ll need your help every step of the way.

[By Dan Cantor - WFP Executive Director]

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