Primary night voters didn’t produce a Democratic nominee for City Comptroller and Public Advocate, but after the runoffs are held in each of those races on Tuesday night September 29, the Democrats will finally have their respective candidate.
In the Comptroller’s race, Queens City Councilmember John Liu is facing off against Brooklyn Councilmember David Yassky (Liu got 38 percent to Yassky’s 30 percent of the vote in the primary), and in the Public Advocate’s race, Brooklyn Councilmember Bill de Blasio will go head to head with former Public Advocate Mark Green (de Blasio got 33 percent to Green’s 31 percent). Both races are required to have runoffs since no candidate received the necessary 40 percent of the vote during the September 15 primary.
Since the primary, all four candidates have been keeping busy schedules travelling throughout the city looking to drum up some last minute support for the runoffs. In addition to talking to voters, they have also been trying to land last-minute endorsements they believe could make the difference in what is likely to be a low-turnout and close runoff.
On Tuesday, September 22, Queens City Councilmember David Weprin, who ran in the four-way September 15 primary for Comptroller, threw his support behind Liu.
“He’s been a colleague and friend in Queens for these past eight years, but probably the biggest single reason is that we both felt very strongly that what the mayor did on term limits was very wrong,” Weprin told The Courier. Weprin said that Yassky did “a real flip-flop” on term limits and “it certainly, in my opinion, questions his integrity and trustworthiness.”
In addition, Weprin said that Liu had more private sector experience than Yassky, and he believes Liu is a better fit for the office.
A few days prior to Weprin’s endorsement of Liu, the other candidate in the September 15 Comptroller’s primary, Queens City Councilmember Melinda Katz, threw her support behind Yassky.
“I enthusiastically endorse David Yassky because he will bring honesty and integrity to the Comptroller’s office and be a trustworthy custodian of the city’s books,” Katz said. “We can count on him to root out waste and inefficiency throughout government. And we can count on him to make smart investments with our pension dollars that catalyze job growth right here in the City of New York.”
In the Public Advocate’s race, both de Blasio and Green have upped their attacks against each other with Green being very vocal in calling out his opponent for ties to developers.
Meanwhile, de Blasio has received a number of key endorsements including outgoing Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum and powerful Queens Congressmember Gregory Meeks.
“Bill has a long track record of fighting for the needs of the hardest working New Yorkers, many of whom often do not have a strong voice in City Hall,” Meeks said.
Polling places will be open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, September 29 for Democrats to vote in the runoff races.
Voters can use the online poll site address locator at https://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm or call the voter phone bank at 1-866-VOTE-NYC.
