2016 NY-65th AD Special Election

Following the conviction of NY Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, multiple democrats threw their hat into the ring to succeed him. Among them were Silver Club Acolyte Alice Cancel and Progressive Democrat Yuh-Line Niou.

Early on it became clear that district leaders—still loyal to silver—would pick Cancel in the seat with the oldest Chinatown in NYC, prompting Yuh Line, a Taiwanese American to seek the district via the Working Families Party Line

Cancel, facing a stiff challenge to Niou, tried to muddy the waters by highlighting that she sought the Democratic nomination as well, only moved to the seat two years prior, and hadn’t answered questions about her voting record

However, with the working Families party and a string of endorsements Niou still mounted a strong challenge against Ms. Cancel, despite this the Democratic brand was too much for her to overcome and Cancel won with 41% of the vote.

In contrast to the special election, the primary became a full display of ethnic politics, with Niou’s strength amongst Asian Americans and Cancel’s close connections to the disgraced Silver allowing Niou to win a commanding victory over not just cancel but four other primary candidates with 31% of the vote.

Because of her win here, Niou was guaranteed a seat in the NY Assembly, a seat which she held until she unsuccessfully ran for the democratic nomination in NY-10 in 2022.

Special Election (No Lable)

General Election Primary