The Public Advocate Candidates Forum 2019 Featured 17 Candidates and Nine Clubs
Held at the LGBT Center on West 13th St, the Public Advocate Candidates Forum 2019 attracted hundreds of activist voters with no shortage of questions to ask of the candidates. And, the well-credentialed roster was certainly up for the task. VID endorsed Benjamin Yee for Public Advocate, in a members-only meeting following the Forum.
Candidates
The candidates included, in order of appearance, Jared Rich, an Attorney; Nomiki Konst, a progressive activist and watchdog journalist; Raphael Espinal, NYC Council; Danny O’Donnell, member of the NYS Assembly; Dawn Smalls, an Attorney; Daniel Christmann, business owner; Ron Kim, member of the NYS Assembly; David Eisenbach, a history professor at Columbia University; Benjamin Yee, activist and State Committee member; Jumaane Williams, NYC Council; Theo Chino, businessman; Ofeoma Ike, activist, former deputy executive director of the de Blasio administration’s Young Men’s Initiative; Sami Desu, journalist turned activist; Professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; Melissa Mark-Viverito, former Speaker of the NYC Council; Latrice Walker, member of the NYS Assembly; Michael Blake, Member of the NYS Assembly and Ydanis Rodriguez, NY City Council.
Another Forum on Jan 29th
VID is co-sponsoring another Downtown Public Advocates Forum with Grand Street Democrats on January 29th at 6:00pm at the Manny Cantor Center, 197 East Broadway. Make your reservation.
Possibly More Run-Offs
With so many currently elected leaders vying for the post, there could be more run-off elections to follow. “Depending on the outcome of the February election we could have another — or possibly two other — special elections in 2019 as well,” said Amy Loprest, Executive Director of New York City’s Campaign Finance Board. The February 26th run-off election will be followed by an off-cycle primary in September, and a general election in November. That’s three elections all in 2019. And that’s the minimum. WNYC has a podcast on the subject.
Also appearing at the Forum were NYS Assemblymembers Deborah Glick and Richard Gottleib who filled a pause while some candidates were arriving with updates on this year’s Assembly agenda.
Sponsoring Clubs
The co-sponsoring clubs were Village Independent Democrats, Grammercy Stuyvesant Independent Democrats, Grand Street Dems, Hells Kitchen Dems, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Samual J. Tilden Democratic Club, Downtown Independent Democrats, Chelsea Reform Democratic Club and the Stonewall Democratic Club.
You can learn more about VID’s endorsed candidate, Benjamin Yee HERE.