On Wednesday, Yu-Line Niou raised her right hand and said, “I do solemnly swear that I will support the constitution of the United States, and the constitution of the State of New York, and that I will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of member of the Assembly according to the best of my ability.”
With those words, Lower Manhattan had a new voice in Albany, and Ms. Niou (who was elected in November to represent the 65th Assembly District in the lower house of the State Legislature) formally began her tenure as a lawmaker.
Ms. Niou was surrounded by a phalanx of well-wishers from the community she represents, including Patrick Kennell, a member of Community Board 1’s Financial District Committee, and one of the founders of the FiDi Neighborhood Association. Ms. Niou, who lives in the Financial District, will represent a patchwork of neighborhoods, which stretches from the Battery to Vesey Street on the West Side and jigsaws just above Houston Street on the East Side. This 65th Assembly District includes not only the southern half of Battery Park City and all of the Financial District, but also the South Street Seaport, the Civic Center, and the Two Bridges neighborhoods. It additionally encompasses the areas of the Lower East Side surrounding Grand Street and Seward Park, portions of Little Italy and Chinatown, and a sliver of the East Village.
After taking the oath, Ms. Niou said, “I am honored to have been joined by community members from across Lower Manhattan to accept the oath of public office. I look forward to representing the 65th Assembly District, and its many neighborhoods, in our State’s legislature. This election brings a fresh start, and I am excited to begin advocating for my constituents, secure resources for the district, and move lower Manhattan forward.”
Among the new legislator’s first official acts was to designate Mauricio Pazmino as her chief of staff. Mr. Pazmino comes from the office of Ms. Niou’s political mentor, State Senator Daniel Squadron, where he currently serves district director. Senator Squadron said, “I supported Yuh-Line’s candidacy and have been so grateful to work with Mauricio for the same reason: to make a difference for the people and neighborhoods of lower Manhattan.”
Mauricio Pazmino, who was recruited from the office
of State Senator Daniel Squadron.
Ms. Niou said, “Mauricio’s knowledge of the district, along with his history of advocating for constituents across lower Manhattan is critical.”
Ms. Niou has taken over the seat long held by former Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, who stepped down at the end of 2015, when he was indicted on federal corruption charges. A special election was scheduled for April, 2016 to fill this seat, but this left no time for a public primary election. As a result, State law and Democratic Party rules dictated that the local County Committee of the Democratic Party would select a candidate. In February, they settled on Alice Cancel, a Lower East Side resident who has long been in active in local politics at the clubhouse level.
In the heavily “blue” landscape of Lower Manhattan, the Democratic Party nod is usually tantamount to winning the general election, and this case was no exception: Ms. Cancel won the April contest and went to Albany to take Mr. Silver’s former seat in the Assembly. But this was always meant to as a temporary stopgap, to prevent residents of the 65th District from being without representation until the regularly scheduled general election, in November.
The February meeting at which Ms. Cancel was selected augured a contentious political season to come: As each of the half-dozen candidates for the Democratic Party nomination stood up to ask for the County Committee’s support, Ms. Niou took a dramatically different tack, focusing on how the mechanism for selecting the nominee was controlled by party insiders. “Let’s be honest: This process is not one anyone would have chosen,” she began. “It doesn’t reflect the diversity of our district. And it is not very democratic. I humbly thank everyone who has committed to support me, but this process is the problem. I have always advocated for those who have no voice. So now, I have made a choice to stand up for those who have no voice in this room, and represent them as well. And with this, I am withdrawing from this flawed process.” This drew audible gasps from the audience. Before leaving the podium, Ms. Niou said, “I look forward to sharing my vision for Downtown in April and in September with all those who have no voice here and who need and deserve so much from their Assembly.” This was an indication that Ms. Niou had decided on a third-party run during the April general election, and would likely seek the Democratic nomination again in its next primary, a few months before the November general election.
Ms. Niou did run, under the banner of the Working Families Party. And although the preponderant might of the Democratic Party delivered the April general election to Ms. Cancel, the race was much tighter than local elections usually are: Out of 17,715 votes cast, Ms. Cancel garnered 7,284 ballots (or 41.1 percent), while Ms. Niou tallied 6,250 votes (or 35.3 percent) and Republican candidate Lester Chang took 3,520 votes (or 19.9 percent). The inability of the Democratic Party nominee to win an outright majority in a general election amounted to an invitation to Ms. Niou to try again, during the next Democratic Party primary, in September.
This primary was different, because it would be decided by voters, rather than the party insiders who populate the County Committee. With high profile endorsements from Senator Squadron, City Comptroller Scott Stringer, and the New York Times, Ms. Niou dominated the six-way race, with 2,742 votes out of 8,692 ballots cast, or 31 percent of the total. Ms. Cancel polled fourth, with 1,069 votes (or 12 percent of the total).
This paved the way for the general election, on November 8. Although Ms. Cancel, denied the Democratic nomination, tried to mount a third-party bid of her own (under the banner of the Woman’s Equality Party), it availed little. Ms. Niou won 29,716 votes out of 44,447 cast (or 69 percent of the total), while Ms. Cancel garnered 2,171 votes (or slightly less than five percent of the total).
Ms. Niou says that her priorities in the legislature will spring from, “progressive values because those are the values of this community. We are an extremely diverse community, and that’s part of our strength, but we need an Assembly member who will fight for all our neighborhoods and all our families. I’m committed to strong ethics laws and campaign finance reform.” She lists among her other priorities, “making sure our seniors have the services and support they need; reducing income inequality; investing in our schools and small businesses; protecting our environment and addressing climate change; and standing up for all disenfranchised and marginalized people.”
She says that her initial areas of focus as a new member of the Assembly will be, “housing affordability, ethics, and resiliency.” Her plans for preserving affordability include, “strengthening our rent laws and ending tenant harassment by landlords. We also need to move with great caution before allowing any new development, and if it is going to happen, we need to make sure it fits the character of our community and provides housing that is affordable for the families who already live here. And we need to make sure any new development includes expansion of our infrastructure, including schools, parks and mass transit.”
For education, Ms. Niou says, “our schools produce some of the best students in the city, but they are overcrowded and need resources. I will work to secure funding for a new school at Essex Crossing, deliver the millions that the state owes us from the Campaign for Fiscal Equity ruling, reduce the over-reliance on one-size-fits-all standardized tests, and work to increase the role of parents in our local schools.”