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Editor's Note: As of July 26 this story has been updated with new financial data for Julissa A. Gomez and Gabriela Rosa and a correction at the end.
While the races for local state office won’t be settled until voters go to the polls on September 14’s Primary Day (and made official in November on Election Day since there are no strong Republicans in the field), July 15 presented two benchmarks for gauging the relative strength of the candidates: it was the deadline for filing petitions to be included on the ballot and reporting cash raised since January.
Assembly Member Adriano Espaillat announced that his campaign had collected 18,000 signatures in support of his bid to replace State Senator Eric Schneiderman, who is stepping aside to run for attorney general. Mark Levine, a community activist and nonprofit leader, filed the second most: 12,000.
Only 500 signatures are required to make the ballot but the number of signatures provides a measure of how strong a candidate’s organization is, which can translate into the size of its operation to turn out the vote come election day.
Petition counts are notoriously subject to change and won’t be made official for weeks as opponents challenge the validity of each other’s signatures in hopes of knocking rivals off the ballot.
The race to be the top fundraiser was closer, with Espaillat edging out Levine by raising $168,051 in the last six months to Levine’s $156,125, according to initial reports from the state Board of Elections.
Overall, Levine has raked in more in the last year, $245,794 to Espaillat’s $222,256. After expenditures, Levine currently has $147,224 in the bank, about $10,000 more than Espaillat.
The New York Daily News reported July 15 that several Hollywood big wigs contributed to Levine’s war chest stemming from his friendship with movie star Edward Norton, a childhood friend. In the article, Levine played down that relationship, saying that most of his cash came from small donations by local residents. Levine has contributions from 512 sources to Espaillat’s 340.
Espaillat and Levine are the two best known candidates in a five-person field to represent the 31st Senate District, which stretches from the Upper West Side, through Washington Heights and Inwood, and into Marble Hill and Riverdale in the Bronx.
Anna Lewis, an attorney who is the only candidate living on the Upper West Side, reported logging 11,000 signatures and, according to the Board of Elections, raised $2,171 in the last cycle, with $798 in the bank.
Miosotis Muñoz, a former aide to Congressman Charlie Rangel, brought in $15,490.
In the race to succeed Espaillat in the 72nd Assembly District, the campaign of former City Council Member Guillermo Linares said it had filed 8,100 signatures and, according to the Board of Elections, had raised $50,475, with about $23,000 on hand. His strongest rival appears to be Nelson Denis, a former Assembly member from East Harlem. Denis’ campaign said it filed 6,000 signatures. Denis’ financial statements included $51,887 raised since January – personal loans account for $32,000 of that number – with about $28,000 in the bank.
Candidate Julissa A. Gomez reported total receipts of $17,260 and a closing balance of $8,314. The records for the Rosa Exploratory Committee show Gabriela Rosa raising $5,865 and having $4,481 in the bank.
The other stated candidates for the 72nd District – Miguel Estrella and Wyatt Johnson – did not report any money raised since January.
In the race for the 71st Assembly District, incumbent Herman “Denny” Farrell reported raising $69,800 with $80,960 on hand. Local insurgent Ariel Ferreira, Farrell’s first primary opponent since 1992, reported soliciting about 1,500 signatures, but did not make a financial statement.
In his campaign for attorney general, Schneiderman placed third in the six-person field when counting all fundraising sources, bringing in $1.6 million over the last six months. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice pulled in the most over the same period, $2.9 million, and former assistant United States attorney Sean Coffey amassed $2.78 million, including his personal $2 million loan to his campaign.
Unlike campaigns in New York City, there are no matching dollars for the state races: what you raise is what you get to spend. The next financial reporting period is in August.
Besides his strong showing in gathering signatures and cash, over the last week Espaillat also added to his long list of endorsements from elected officials as Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr., Congressman Eliot Engel and State and New York City Comptrollers Thomas DiNapoli and John Liu officially signed on to his campaign. Two of his former rivals for senate, Rafael Figuereo and Felix Jerez, also dropped out of the race to support his campaign.
Correction:
The original version of this article misreported the financial data for Francesca Castellanos, who has been listed among the candidates running for state Senate in the 31st District. The article reported that Castellanos had raised over $36,000, but that amount is actually for a committee called Friends of Francesca, backing state Senate hopeful Francesca Carlow in the 6th District on Long Island.
An email from Castellanos indicated that she has “not raised a single dime as of yet to my bid” for state Senate.
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