As one race ends, another begins, but will it be a Special Election or primary?
Jose Peralta’s Senate victory has left an open Assembly seat in the 39th District, and at least three candidates have already expressed their intentions to run.
However, it is unclear whether Governor David Paterson will call a Special Election, which he has 30 days to do, or let the seat remain vacant until the November election.
Regardless, Francisco Moya, a lifelong Queens resident who most recently ran in a Special Election last January for the 21st City Council seat, and Bryan Pu-Folkes, a Jackson Heights immigration attorney who founded two nonprofit organizations in the community, have announced that they intend to pursue the seat.
Both Moya and Pu-Folkes are lifelong Democrats and would be seeking the Democratic nomination – either in a yet-to-be-announced Special Election that would likely take place in May or June – or in the Democratic primary in September.
If it is a Special Election where the Queens Democratic Party gets to choose its nominee, Moya said he is confident he would be tapped because he has already received the endorsement of Queens Democratic Party boss, Congressmember Joseph Crowley.
In addition, William Salgado, a Jackson Heights lawyer who ran for this Assembly seat three times from 1998 through 2002, said he is considering entering the race, but has not made a final decision yet. – Pete Davis
