Justin Sanchez has emerged as the frontrunner in the Democratic primary for City Council District 17, holding a commanding lead in the race to succeed term-limited Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr.
According to preliminary results from the city’s Board of Elections, Sanchez garnered 40.4% of first-choice votes in the ranked-choice election, followed by Antirson Ortiz with 25.1%, Freddy Perez Jr. with 17.7%, and Elvis Santana with 15.9%.
The final outcome will depend on ranked-choice tabulations, but Sanchez’s early advantage has positioned him as the likely nominee for the South Bronx district, which includes neighborhoods such as Hunts Point, Longwood, and parts of Morrisania.
A former chief of staff to State Senator Nathalia Fernandez, Sanchez launched his campaign as a progressive-aligned candidate with strong institutional backing. He received endorsements from the Bronx Democratic Party, U.S. Reps. Ritchie Torres and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, and a broad coalition of unions and advocacy organizations.
He also entered the race with the largest campaign war chest. As of the June 13 campaign finance filings, Sanchez had outspent the next closest candidate by about $60,000.
Sanchez celebrated election night with supporters and local Democratic leaders at Zona de Cuba in the South Bronx. “We feel really good. We will, of course, wait till the rank choice voting process to play out. But we are very confident in what will happen on the first,” he told the Bronx Times.
Sanchez, 33, ran on a platform titled “17 for 17,” a list of policy goals for the district centered on quality-of-life improvements. His campaign used clear messaging, including the memorable slogan “clean the damn streets,” to highlight issues like sanitation, drug use, and youth services.
“Well, we knocked on nearly 100,000 doors. We built a team from the district for the district that was message based,” he told the Bronx Times at the campaign party Tuesday night. “All we did was talk about our issues— cleaning the damn streets and just repeating that and showing how we planned to do it. It wasn’t any pie in the sky thing. It was stuff that folks can actually see within the next four years.”
“You can see if there’s trash cans on your street corners. You can see if there are less people dealing with substance use disorder on your streets. You can see if your kids have afterschool programs. They’re tangible wins and things that are not left issues or right issues, they’re just community issues that folks can grab onto and say, ‘yes, I want that.’ And I think that really resonated. It clearly resonated with a large percentage of the district.”
Sanchez’s focus on the opioid epidemic also set him apart in the field. While national trends have seen overdose rates decline, the South Bronx has experienced continued increases.
“I think I fall into a really unique space with this,” Sanchez said. “I was the chief of staff to the Senator who was the chair of alcoholism and substance use disorder [committee]. So, for the last two years, I’ve been touring the state visiting overdose prevention centers, harm reduction centers, methadone clinics, seeing what actually works and what doesn’t work.”
He added, “Honestly, I talked about the opioid crisis because my constituents were talking about the opioid crisis. When we first launched this campaign … it wasn’t asking for votes. It was what matters to you in the community. And what we were hearing were cleanliness, the drug problem, education.”
Sanchez also spoke about his personal connection to the issue. “I held my first opioid round table in 2016 in the borough president’s office and my uncle died from a heroin overdose. So, this is stuff that hits home, but also, you see it every day.”
Meanwhile, Ortiz, who finished second in preliminary results, ran a campaign focused on public safety, youth investment and affordable housing. He also highlighted his experience in city and state government, roots in the district and a shared history of economic disadvantage and negative health disparities prevalent among South Bronx residents. But Ortiz fell behind in fund raising and has not been able to compete with Sanchez’s endorsements.
Perez, who received Salamanca’s endorsement, positioned himself as the more moderate choice, telling the Bronx Times in May, “I’m not a progressive; I am a Democrat.”
The Perez campaign emphasized public safety, small business development and housing preservation. However, he also trailed Sanchez in financial resources and political backing. Santana, a political outsider who placed fourth, was unable to gain traction in the final weeks of the race.
The full results of the primary will be determined after all ranked-choice rounds are tabulated by the city’s Board of Elections.
