After a relatively uneventful June primary — with only one of the Bronx races being a competitive affair leading to an upset in the 33rd Assembly District — what will the Aug. 23 primaries bring as key Senate and Congressional races set the stage for the Nov. 8 election.
Tuesday’s primary is the second of New York’s split primary schedule, which was set in stone when this year’s redistricting saga necessitated the primaries for Congress and state Senate to be pushed back two months from June.
The June primaries, however, saw remarkably low voter turnout, and considering the state’s historically low voter participation rates in previous election cycles, local voting officials told the Bronx Times they don’t expect that to change in August.
For those who will show up to the polls or have already punched their ballots during the city’s nine-day early voting window — which opened Monday and ends Sunday — voters in the Bronx and Westchester will also be keen on a few competitive races that could further the area’s political divide between Democratic progressives and moderates.
Aug. 22 is the last day for voters to apply for an absentee ballot in person. Polls are open from 6 a.m.-9 p.m. on Election Day.
Races to watch
The Bronx features three multi-candidate Democratic races for Senate seats in the 31st, 33rd and 34th districts, while the borough also has two competitive Congressional primaries, with challengers looking to unseat popular progressives.
In 2020, then middle school principal and political newcomer Jamaal Bowman unseated 16-term incumbent Eliot Engel. Now, the Squad member hopes to keep his seat for a second term amid a flurry of challengers.
Vedat Gashi and Catherine Parker, both Westchester County lawmakers, and Mark Jaffe, CEO of the Greater New York Chamber of Commerce, have thrown their hats into a crowded primary field as Democrats try to hold their nine-seat advantage in the U.S. House of Representatives this November.
A triple threat: Three candidates challenge Bowman in Wakefield, Westchester Congressional primary
The district includes the Bronx’s Wakefield and a slew of municipalities up and down Westchester County.
While U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Progressive and native of Parkchester, faces no opposition on her way to November, her Republican challenger will be decided on Aug. 23. Queens native Desi Cuellar and Bronx native Tina Forte — who was involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol — seek the Republican nomination in what’s expected to be a long shot bid to unseat AOC in November.
The 14th District includes the eastern part of the Bronx and part of north-central Queens.
The Bronx race that’s managed to steal a bulk of the spotlight across the city is the state’s 33rd Senate District race between incumbent Progressive Gustavo Rivera and attorney Miguelina Camilo, a moderate Democrat. The 33rd District runs from Riverdale to the Bronx Zoo.
Rivera has spent more than a decade in Albany, first elected to the Senate in 2010 when he defeated entrenched pol Pedro Espada Jr. in a Democratic primary; Espada Jr. was later convicted on federal corruption charges and sentenced to 5 years in prison. Now a leading progressive voice in the state, Rivera chairs the Senate Health Committee.
Camilo — the former president of the Bronx Women’s Bar Association and former vice chair of the Bronx Democrats — entered the race along with a potentially landscape changing endorsement from the Bronx Dems and the support of a host of high-profile sitting electeds.
As for the 34th District, Assemblymember Nathalia Fernandez seeks a promotion to the New York State Legislature’s upper house, but faces stiff competition from Christian Amato — a former staffer of current seatholder Alessandra Biaggi. John Perez, who has made three unsuccessful bids at elected office since 2018, is also running for the seat.
Could the flood-prone 34th Senate District primary be won on climate?
The remade 34th District is comprised of a chunk of east Bronx constituencies as well as the Pelhams and a portion of the city of New Rochelle in Westchester
For Kingsbridge and University Heights voters, many who were redistricted out of the 33rd earlier this year, they will have a say in the majority-Manhattan seat where incumbent Sen. Robert Jackson is locked in a primary against Angel Vasquez, Ruben Dario Vargas and Francesca Castellanos, the latter two who are perennial candidates.
Elected in 2018, Jackson is seeking his third two-year term in office, where he chairs the Senate Civil Service and Pensions Committee. His biggest opponent could be the former teacher and union official Vasquez, who is backed by Congressman Adriano Espaillat, whose support helped George Alvarez unseat a longtime incumbent in Assemblymember José Rivera in June.
Castellanos previously made a bid for City Council and once for state Assembly while Vargas was unsuccessful in multiple runs for the Senate and Assembly.
Inwood and Washington Heights are the major voting blocs in the 31st District.
Reach Robbie Sequeira at rsequeira@schnepsmedia.com or (718) 260-4599. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
