Good morning! It's Primary Day in New York City, and polls are open from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. If you're registered to vote with a political-party affiliation, you are eligible to vote today in your party's primary.
Once again, we've spent the past few months evaluating responses to our in-depth candidate questionnaire, analyzing policy platforms, and conducting personal interviews with dozens of candidates. We've endorsed 13 candidates for New York City Council, just five of whom have primaries today. You can learn more about each of the candidates on the ballot today below, as well as important aspects of their street-safety and transportation records.
To find your polling location, see a sample ballot, and check your voter-registration status, please visit vote.nyc.
Today's primary will very likely continue a trend of low-turnout elections. While we'd always prefer to see robust voter participation, low turnout means that your vote for a candidate who supports safe, complete and livable streets, and reliable, efficient and affordable public transit, will be all the more valuable, critically so in a close race. Please vote!
Candidates are listed below in ascending order by district number, with links to each candidate's website and a map of the Council district.
2023 Endorsees: Manhattan | Queens | Brooklyn
Christopher Marte, Council District 1, Manhattan (Incumbent) – Christopher Marte, who won his seat in 2021 with StreetsPAC's support, is seeking re-election in the district that covers the southern tip of Manhattan. He's been advocating with the Department of Transportation for major fixes to Canal Street, and supports plans to pedestrianize significant portions of the Financial District. He's also been pushing to have Park Row, which has been closed off since 9/11, reclaimed from the NYPD, with an enhanced protected bike lane, expanded pedestrian space, and a busway. He's co-sponsored a number of street-safety bills, including being a co-prime sponsor of Intros 500 and 501-A, which would crack down on placards and allow public reporting of illegal parking, two issues that plague his district. While we had positive interactions with Susan Lee and Ursila Jung, who are challenging Council Member Marte in the Democratic primary, we believe the incumbent is the best choice on street-safety and transportation issues.
Carlina Rivera, Council District 2, Manhattan (Incumbent) – Carlina Rivera, who earned our endorsement in both 2017 and 2021, has proven herself a real champion on transportation issues in her five-and-a-half years in the City Council. During her current term, she sponsored the legislation that will require the city to produce a master plan for greenways in 2024, and in her first term, Council Member Rivera authored the laws that made the Open Streets program permanent, require implementation of temporary accommodations when construction projects impede on existing bike lanes, and guarantee restroom access for the city's Deliveristas. She was also a key supporter of the 14th Street busway, and has advocated for expanded cycling infrastructure throughout her district, where she can often be spotted riding her bike. Council Member Rivera faces a challenger in both the Democratic primary and November's general election.
Shekar Krishnan, Council District 25, Queens (Incumbent) – Shekar Krishnan won his seat representing Queens's 25th Council District with StreetsPAC's backing in 2021. He's distinguished himself as a champion of the 34th Avenue Open Street, now dubbed "Paseo Park" and one of the city's most ambitious street transformations. His support has been instrumental to the creation of five fully pedestrianized school plazas along 34th Avenue, as well as a superblock around Travers Park. He's called for a comprehensive redesign of Northern Boulevard, and as someone who often gets around by bicycle, he's been outspoken about the need to protect bike lanes with more than plastic sticks. As chair of the Council's Committee on Parks and Recreation, he's in position to help steward the city's coming greenway master plan. His challenger in the Democratic primary is a critic of the 34th Avenue Open Street, and Council Member Krishnan believes voters will come down firmly on the side of progress. As do we.
Julie Won, Council District 26, Queens (Incumbent) – Julie Won won a hard-fought, 15-person race in 2021 to succeed Jimmy Van Bramer as the Council Member representing Queens's diverse 26th District. A victim of a hit-and-run while biking in 2020, she's proven herself a fierce advocate for safer streets, nowhere more so than in her continued push to have the Department of Transportation dedicate more space to biking and walking on the Queensboro Bridge. She's advocated for the hardening of protected bike lanes in her district, too many of which are frequently driven or parked in, and she's asked the administration to fund a comprehensive planning effort for Northern Boulevard. Council Member Won has fought hard for wide-ranging safety improvements in the wake of the death of seven-year-old Dolma Naadhun in Astoria in February. She faces a primary challenge from Hailie Kim, who also ran for the seat in 2021; while Ms. Kim has a strong transportation platform of her own, we believe Julie Won has more than earned another term in the Council.
Jennifer Gutiérrez, Council District 34, Brooklyn/Queens (Incumbent) – Jennifer Gutiérrez was elected with StreetsPAC's support in 2021 to succeed Antonio Reynoso in this district straddling Brooklyn and Queens. She recently rallied her City Council colleagues around the "Sammy's Law" home-rule resolution for which she was lead sponsor, which should have been the key to the bill's passage in the Assembly. Ms. Gutiérrez has advocated for better bike infrastructure, including a Citi Bike station at transit-starved Ridgewood Reservoir, and has pushed to make certain that plans for the repair and renovation of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, which runs through her district, address the entire corridor. As Chair of the Council's Committee on Technology, she's interested in exploring ways to identify and track motor vehicles with fake or obscured license plates, and she's also planning to introduce a bill that would require the placement of anti-dooring reminders on the passenger windows of for-hire vehicles. Council Member Gutiérrez faces a challenge in the Democratic primary.
