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With 12 years of experience representing parts of Washington Heights and Inwood in the Assembly, the name recognition bestowed by that length of service and a near monopoly on endorsements from local elected officials, Adriano Espaillat appears to be the front runner in the race to replace State Senator Eric Schneiderman.
Five other candidates are vying to be the one to replace Schneiderman, who has stepped down to run for state attorney general: Francesca Castellanos, Rafael Figuereo, Mark Levine, Anna Lewis and Miosotis Munoz.
The 31st Senate District stretches from the Upper West Side, through Washington Heights and Inwood and into Riverdale in the Bronx. Its current boundaries were created a decade ago as a majority Latino district to increase the chances for a Hispanic to be elected. But though more Latinos live in the district, non-Hispanic whites represent the majority of the electorate. In 2002, when former City Council Member Guillermo Linares challenged Schneiderman, he garnered a third of voters and won the Latino neighborhood of Washington Heights. But Schneiderman defeated him with overwhelming support from the political establishment and considerable resources.
This time, it’s one of the four Latinos in the race, Espaillat, who has created an impressive list of supporters, a “who’s who” of politics in New York City as well as the neighborhoods in the district. This political support translates into troops to gather and validate the signatures required to make it on the ballot and, eventually, a massive operation on Primary Day, which is Sept. 14.
Espaillat’s lineup starts with Senator Schneiderman, who hopes Espaillat will replace him in the Senate. “No one has worked harder for our communities – our schools, our seniors, our neighborhoods – than Adriano. He shares our values, knows how to get the job done and will keep leading the fight to reform Albany,” Schneiderman said.
In Manhattan, Espaillat has the support of the borough president, Scott Stringer, who said, :These are tough times in Albany. New Yorkers want to believe that elected officials are doing their jobs; that they can trust their elected officials to protect the values we share.”
In every neighborhood, Espaillat obtained the lion’s share of support from its elected officials: Assembly Member Jeffrey Dinowitz and City Council Member Oliver Koppell in Riverdale; City Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez in Washington Heights; Assembly Member Herman “Denny” Farrell in Washington Heights, Morningside Heights and parts of Harlem; and Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal on the Upper West Side.
Despite this considerable support for Espaillat, the other candidates hope that in this election cycle, when incumbents across the country are coming under fire, a fresh face might be more attractive.
“[Some] progressives are saying you don’t have to get more Democrats, you have to get the right Democrats in there,” indicated Ralph Andrew, a Levine supporter and longtime political activist in Upper Manhattan.
From the pack challenging Espaillat, Washington Heights resident Levine is the best known. His platform is built on being the one who is best suited to reform the Legislature, having founded the Barak Obama Democrats for Change political club to support progressive issues and candidates. While he lost his only previous campaign for elected office, he has made his name in nonprofit work, both in education, through Teach for America and the Center for After-School Excellence, and as the founder of Credit Where Credit is Due, a credit union he started to help immigrants in Washington Heights. City Council Member Robert Jackson, who defeated Levine in 2002, is the lone local elected official to endorse him over Espaillat.
Levine believes that these credentials will resonate with voters who are tired of politics as usual.
“This is a change election. If you’re happy with the status quo in Albany then I’m not your candidate,” Levine said in a telephone interview from his campaign headquarters on Broadway and W. 215th Street. “We’re running hard in every inch of this district.”
But Espaillat also points to progressive planks in his campaign platform, noting that he is a prime Assembly sponsor of the main legislative piece, supported by Citizens Union and former mayor Ed Koch’s New York Uprising, to change Albany.
“From supporting tenants from eviction to fighting against rent deregulation to chairing committees on veteran affairs and small businesses, I have been at the forefront of every legislative battle to help the people in the neighborhoods I hope to represent,” Espaillat argues.
And to voters who are itching to elect newcomers, Espaillat notes: “you need change but you also need experience to help constituents in very tough times.”
A third candidate, Munoz, a former aide to Congressman Charles Rangel, is focusing her campaign on constituent services, her area of expertise.
“I’m not running because I’m a woman, or an African American or because I’m a Dominican,” Munoz said.
What’s important, she says, is that the next state senator should know the mechanics of the system. “It’s taken me 19 years [to run for office.] There’s a reason for that,” she said.
She believes she and Castellanos are being bullied because they are Latinas, and said Espaillat’s supporters have asked her to drop out.
“There are four Dominican candidates, but they focus on me” to step aside, she said. “It’s a compliment …They know my track record.”
Andrew said if all four of the Dominican candidates make it through all the challenges to their petitions, that Espaillat’s Northern Manhattan base might be fractured, hurting his chances.
Conversely, according to this line of thinking, if Lewis makes it on the ballot, Levine’s chances are hurt.
Lewis, the only one of the candidates who lives on the Upper West Side, is an attorney with New York State’s Health Department who has also served as counsel to the Assembly's Committee on Oversight, Analysis, and Investigation.
Despite the fact that the candidates are Dominican and white and are running in a demographically diverse district, Dr. Kenneth Sherrill, chair of the politics department at Hunter College, doesn’t think the election will come down to race.
“I don’t think it’s an issue in the race, in the sense that it’s not being debated and it’s not being campaigned on,” he said.
Levine pointed to his Latinos Por Levine supporters, which he says is composed of 60 Dominican leaders, and an endorsement by City Council Member Diana Reyna, New York's first Dominican woman elected to public office, as examples of his ability to bring everyone together. Reyna’s support may also be political payback to Espaillat, who supported her challenger in last year’s Council elections.
Although many believe this will be a low voter primary because there are no compelling statewide or national races for the highest seats of power, Schneiderman’s campaign for attorney general may squeeze every possible vote out of the 31st Senate District as he vies with five other candidates. The fact that the senator and his club, the Community Free Democrats, have endorsed Espaillat helps the Assembly member.
“They’re arguably the most powerful Democratic club in Manhattan,” Sherrill said.
This week the strength of each candidate will be tested by the number of signatures that they have collected over the last four weeks and how many funds they have on hand since their January 2010 filing.
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