When we look back on June 2023—which is how we all typically reminisce, in month-by-month increments—we'll remember a few blockbuster events: the Titanic-bound billionaire submarine implosion; the (gulp, first) time particulate matter turned our city's skies the color of Thai iced tea for a few horribly unhealthy and eerily photogenic days; and, obviously, the time a very small number New Yorkers came out to vote in yesterday's weird, redistricting-prompted primary election.
No telling how everything else will look when crystallized in the amber of history—are we going to feel weird about those submarine memes or not?!!?!?!?!?!—but, at the very least, most of the primary results are in. Here's a little cheatsheet of how the most interesting races turned out, whether you're genuinely interested in how the wheel of democracy turns in the city or just, I don't know, trying to impress someone who works at a nonprofit.
District One, Democratic primary, Lower Manhattan
A scary light-up truck (and a general atmosphere of downtown fear-mongering) couldn't stop Progressive Caucus member and incumbent Christopher Marte from holding on to his City Council seat.
District Nine, Democratic primary, Harlem
After incumbent Kristin Richardson Jordan officially dropped out of the primary race in May, voters in this Harlem district came out in force for Central Park Five member Yusef Salaam, and snubbed the only politician Eric Adams endorsed in the entire City Council election, Assemblymember Inez Dickens. This is the election result that made a certain Hell Gate team member send a Slack message at an ungodly 5:12 a.m. this morning.
District 26, Democratic primary, Queens
Labor isn't into her, she's sparked backlash from the left, but voters in Long Island City, Sunnyside, and Woodside kept incumbent Julie Won in her City Council seat. That's right—we're better than a pun, here.
District 41, Democratic primary, Brooklyn
In this Central Brooklyn district that includes parts of Bed-Stuy, Ocean Hills, and Brownsville, incumbent Darlene Mealy emerged victorious over her biggest challenger, Isis McIntosh Green, who out-fundraised Mealy. Congrats to Mealy, who beat the "not doing any work at her job" allegations. May we all be so lucky this summer.
District 42, Democratic primary, East New York
Incumbent and longtime socialist activist Charles Barron is expected to lose to challenger Chris Banks in what feels like the literal end of an empire—Barron has been a NYC elected official for more than two decades, spending time both as a City Councilmember and a member of the New York State Assembly.
District 43, Democratic primary, South Brooklyn
In South Brooklyn's new majority-Asian district that encompasses Sunset Park, Gravesend, and Bensonhurst, Susan Zhuang won an incumbent-less race. Whether that is because of the "Republican in the streets and Democrat on the ballot sheets" message she was caught spreading while doorknocking—the New York Post reported that she told a voter that her ideas were "of the Republican Party" and that she chose to run as a Democrat for electability reasons—remains to be seen.
District 47, Republican primary, Bay Ridge
It's an incumbent-off for this district, as current City Councilmember Justin Brannan will officially face Ari Kagan in the general election. A little two-year-long porn-related website hack is not a political death sentence, and I think that's beautiful.
Hungry for more local politricks? Here's a more detailed breakdown of the most competitive City Council and district attorney races through City & State, and if you're a real election freak, you can get the full slate of results on the City's Board of Elections website.
And now, some winning links:
- NIMBYism comes for a much-needed overdose prevention center in the South Bronx that was set to be the first in the borough.
- Celebrities are just like us—fighting with their annoying husbands on Instagram.
- Eric Adams announced the City's twelfth migrant relief center will be in a vacant college dorm on the Upper East Side.
- Rent hikes are on pause for "over income" tenants in NYCHA housing.
- Two construction supervisors are facing rare criminal charges after a 2018 accident disabled a pair of their workers.
- Bye bye, Elizabeth Street Garden.
- Actor Jonathan Majors has filed a cross-complaint with the NYPD against the ex-girlfriend who accused him of harassment and physical assault.
- Ivanka Trump is officially off the hook in Tish James's lawsuit against the Trump Organization.
- Jessica Tisch???
- Daniel Penny is set to be arraigned on manslaughter charges.
- India Walton just lost her upstate Democratic primary, but she'll be running again in the general.
- After years of pointless delays, the federal government has finally given congestion pricing the green light, so now Governor Kathy Hochul feels good about making a compelling case for "setting the standard, right here in real time, for how we can achieve cleaner air, safer streets, and better transit." Meanwhile, New Jersey seethes.
- Teachers will need at least twice as much time to decompress if they actually have to try and implement five straight minutes of "mindful breathing" in the City's public schools.
- Inside the rise of a New York prison dynasty.
- And finally, here's a requiem for Pat Lynch, courtesy of our own Max Rivlin-Nadler.
