FiDi Resident, Yuh-Line Niou Launches Run for Assembly Seat

On Monday evening, at the Hotel Chantelle restaurant on the Lower East Side, Ms. Niou gathered with a crowd of more than 100 supporters to announce her candidacy. “We are progressives and we are activists, and we know that true change does not happen overnight,” Ms. Niou said. “But we are here tonight because we are ready to finish the job we started back in April.”

This was a reference to Ms. Niou’s third-party candidacy, under the banner of the Working Families Party, in the April 19 special election to fill the seat vacated by Mr. Silver. Ms. Niou launched that campaign shortly after the February 7 selection of Ms. Cancel as the Democratic nominee. This process was controversial because the short interval between Mr. Silver’s downfall and the date of the special election left no time for a public primary, which meant that the local Democratic Party’s governing body, the County Committee, would decide which of the aspirants would run on the Democratic line.

Alice Cancel

The lack of a primary in which the voters were allowed to cast ballots fostered the perception in some quarters that political insiders were making a choice that rightfully belonged to the public. At the same time, a public nominating process might have produced a consensus candidate who already reflected the voter disaffection with insiders and could thus claim a broad mandate. In the event, however, the nominating process was anything but unifying. The Democratic County Committee gave the party’s nod to Ms. Cancel, an elected district leader from the Lower East Side. Because she was strongly supported by the Truman Democratic Club, which was Mr. Silver’s home base (and where he and his associates are believed to retain considerable influence), Ms. Cancel suffered from the perception that she represented a continuation of Mr. Silver’s legacy, rather than a clean break with a tainted past.

At the February meeting that gave the nod to Ms. Cancel, Ms. Niou, focused on how the mechanism for selecting the nominee was to be decided by party insiders. “Let’s be honest,” she said. “This process is not one anyone would have chosen. It doesn’t not 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.”

As she seemed to hint, Ms. Niou went on to campaign under the Working Families line for the April special election, where she made an unusually strong showing for a third-party candidate, garnering 6,250 votes (or 35.2 percent) of the 17,715 ballots cast. But this was not enough to stop Ms. Cancel, who cruised to a comfortable victory with 7,284 votes (or 41.1 percent of the total).

	Paul Newell

Ms. Niou’s mention of September was a reference to the date of the upcoming Democratic Party primary for the seat now held by Ms. Cancel. (In the heavily “blue” landscape of Lower Manhattan, the nomination of the Democratic party is usually tantamount to winning the November election, which usually makes the primary the real contest, with the actual election relegated to the status of a formality.) In contrast to the April race, the nominee will be chosen by voters this time. While Ms. Niou is already planning to run again under the Working Families line, she also plans to compete for the Democratic nod.

Jenifer Rajkumar

She is joining an increasingly crowded field. Paul Newell, a community leader on the Lower East Side, and Jenifer Rajkumar, a Democratic district leader in Battery Park City, have already declared their candidacies. Ms. Cancel has not yet made a formal announcement, but she is widely assumed to be planning to run for reelection.

“Not surprisingly, Albany has not reformed itself,” Ms. Niou said at her Monday campaign kickoff. “Our schools are still overcrowded, the right of workers to organize and earn fair wages is still under attack, tenants are still being harassed out of their homes and too many families still struggle every day to make ends meet.”

Ms. Niou was endorsed by immediately by City Comptroller Scott Stringer, who said, “we are here today to continue our campaign to elect a true progressive Democrat to the State Assembly. We are going to win this race and change the status quo, because Yuh-Line has the right progressive values and the right experience to go to Albany and deliver for Downtown.” (During her April run under the Working Families line, Ms. Niou was also endorsed by State Senator Daniel Squadron and the New York Times.)

The 65th Assembly District that all of these candidates hope to represent stretches from the Battery to Vesey Street on the West Side and jigsaws just above Houston Street on the East Side.