The campaign to replace Erik Bottcher as councilmember for the 3rd Council District is up and running, with a special election slated for April 28.
Endorsements are pouring in, but along with boosting their own candidacies, the candidates have another task – making people aware of the election in general.
The candidates, all Democrats, are Leslie Boghosian Murphy, an Emmy–winning broadcast journalist for major TV networks and current chair of Community Board 4; Lindsey Boylan, urban planner, former chief of staff at the state Empire State Development Corp., and the first woman to accuse former Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment publicly; Carl Wilson, West Side community leader and chief of staff for Councilmember Erik Bottcher; and Layla Law-Gisiko, district leader for A.D. 75 Part A and president of the City Club of New York.
The district includes Hudson Square, the West Village, Chelsea, Hudson Yards, Meatpacking District, Garment District, Times Square, and Hell’s Kitchen. The election, like all Council elections nowadays, will be ranked choice rather than the traditional winner-take-all vote.
Endorsements, fast and furious
Wilson leads the group in big-name endorsements. Among the heavy hitters who have endorsed him are City Council Speaker Julie Menin, NYC Comptroller Mark Levine, Assemblymember Keith Powers, former Council Speaker Corey Johnson, former Council Speaker Christine Quinn, City Council Majority Leader Shawn Abreau, former Assemblymember Dick Gottried, former Comptroller Scott Stringer, and, as one might expect, Bottcher himself.
Furthermore, Wilson was endorsed by the District Council of Carpenters, the Village Independent Democratic Club, the Hell’s Kitchen Democrats (of which he was a co-founder), Stonewall Democrats of NYC, Jerry Nadler and the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, the city’s oldest LGBTQ political club. Wilson is the only LGBTQ candidate in the race, and recently said, “Today, as LGBT rights are being challenged again, I will be a consistent vote and a consistent voice for full equality.”
But as this article is being written, Law-Gisiko is steadily gaining in the race. Her endorsers are a mix of politicians and community leaders. Some of them include Councilmember Christopher Marte, Councilmember Justin Brannan, former New York Civil Liberties Union leaders Norman Siegel, former Councilmember Tom Duane, former Councilmember Ronnie Eldridge, District Leader A.D. 61 Vittoria Fariello, Hell’s Kitchen Democrats Executive Committee Member Diego Figueroa, Elliott Chelsea Tenant President Renee Keitt, and Save Chelsea President Pamela Wolff.
She was recently endorsed by the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club, which she describes as her “home club,” as well as the Village Reform Democratic Club and the Downtown Independent Democrats. Of Tom Duane, she said in a statement, “His endorsement means the world to me because it reflects a shared commitment to serious, principled public service.”
Boylan, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has been endorsed by State Sen. Julie Salazar, law professor Zephyr Teachout (known for challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo in a Democratic primary), former U.S. Rep. Jumaal Bowman, State Sen Gustavo Rivera, Rabbi and trans woman Abby Stein, non-binary activist and drag queen Marti Cummings, 504 Democratic Club (disability), and New York Progressive Action Network.
The three names on top of Boghosian Murphy’s online endorsement page are well-known politicians from an earlier generation: former Manhattan Borough President Ruth Messinger, former Councilmember Ronnie Eldridge, and former U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney. Other endorsements, however, reveal that her true strength is at the grass-roots level. She has been endorsed by at least 30 community leaders.
Some of these are Sally Greenspan, executive director, Downtown Women for Change; Delores Rubin, president, Midtown North Precinct Council; Christine Gorman, president, West 55th Street Block Association; Ashley Lawson, P.S. 33 PTA Committee; Arthur Schwartz, Democratic District Leader, Greenwich Village; David Gruber, former chair, Community Board 2; Andrew Eaddy, executive board member, Hell’s Kitchen Democrats; and Rachel Lee, immigration advocate and member of Community Board 4.
What election?
Some people in the community are unaware that a special election is coming up, or, if they do know, don’t know much else.
Jeff, a Penn South resident who didn’t give his last name, said, “Most people know that there’s an election, but they don’t necessarily know the candidates, know the issues … I myself have to find out more about it.”
When this reporter asked Miriam, another Penn South resident, whether she knew about the election, she said, “I thought it had taken place already.” When told otherwise, she answered, “I didn’t know … I have to tell people!”
Louis, a Chelsea resident and former teacher, told this writer, “I don’t know that much about it, and my wife doesn’t know that much about it. Someone came to the door, she was very nice, and she talked about the candidate that she was supporting. But I wasn’t really listening.”
Why they’re running
Most of the candidates are already veterans of the political wars. For example, Boylan ran for Congress in 2020 and for Manhattan borough president in 2021. Boghosian Murphy ran for the same Council seat she’s now seeking in 2021. Law-Gisiko ran for State Assembly in 2021.
This being the case, why are they running this time around?
Responding to a question from the Star-Revue, Wilson said, “I am running because the West Side of Manhattan is not just where I live, it is where I found my home, my community, and my purpose.” After coming from Maryland as a struggling actor, he said, he found “a place where I could truly belong in Hell’s Kitchen, Chelsea, and the West Village, in the historic heart of New York City’s LGBTQ+ civil rights movement and queer communities.”
Law-Sisko told us, “For two decades, I’ve been the person in the hearing room at 10:30 p.m., the one who read the footnotes, the one who asked the inconvenient question … There comes a moment when you realize that if you have long carried the responsibilities of public service, it is time to formally seek the role. I’m running because I refuse to accept that power belongs only to the powerful. And because this district deserves someone who is not dazzled, not intimidated, and not for sale; someone who will do the homework, say the hard thing out loud, and protect the people who live here.”
Boghosian-Murphy told this newspaper that “I became acutely aware that journalism alone was not enough to address the structural problems affecting our daily lives. I moved from reporting on inequity to directly engaging in neighborhood advocacy, where I am proud to have contributed to tangible improvements in schools, environmental policy, and neighborhood infrastructure. As a City Council Member, I would have the authority and platform to do much more.”
Boylan said, “I cannot imagine a more urgent or important time to be engaged in City Council. We have a vast mandate from New Yorkers to tackle affordability and a real shift in who wields power that enables us to accomplish this. I’m inspired by the grassroots efforts that elected the mayor and I want to be a partner in that change. Particularly in a time of rising fascism, people need to believe that their local government cares and responds to their needs.”
In a related development, as this article was being written, an issue that was front and center in the political race has been put on the back burner – at least temporarily. The Appellate Division issued a temporary restraining order (TRO) against NYCHA’s plan to demolish the Fulton and Chelsea-Elliott Houses and replace them with new apartments in cooperation with The Related Companies.
Law-Gisiko, the most strident opponent of the demolition among the candidates, issued a statement saying, “We are still fighting this abject demolition plan that NYCHA and Related are trying to force on tenants … A temporary stay is in place until a court can hear an appeal from public housing tenants who argue that the ambitious redevelopment plan short-circuited a review process.”
