2025 NYC Council Democratic Primaries

The NYC Council district 1 Dem primary, a contest mainly between Chris Marte, members of Manhattan Community Board 1 Elizabeth Lewisohn, Jess Coleman and Eric Yu, was a bare plurality renomination for the Incumbent due to his  past anti-development stance. 

With the remaining candidate running on YIMBY stances, Marte's opponents and independent expenditure groups attacked him him for his NIMBY "no" vote on the the City of Yes for Housing Opportunity rezoning package

one of the Marquee races in this council primary, the NYC Council District 2 Primary pitted Assemblyperson Harvey Epstein against Community board members Sarah Batchu & Andrea Gordillo plus Allison Ryan and most infamously, disgraced former Congressman Anthony Weiner

Despite Anthony Weiner being one of the two most prominent names in the race, a well-publisiced campaign on behalf of Harvey Epstein—with a prominent SNL skit poking fun at his name's resemblance to two criminals (Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein)—focused the campaign on stopping Weiner. 

Note: Weiner was required to register as a sex offender in 2017 over sexting a 15 year old (in addition to scandals that ended his political carreer in 2011 and 2013), 

The NYC Council District 4 Democratic Primary, a contest mainly between Daughter of former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney—Virginia Maloney, Educator Vanessa Aronson, former AD-76 Dem leader Ben Wetzler former MO state Rep Rachel Storch, sees Maloney narowly lead Aronson in a contest that will be decided by Ranked choice voting

The NYC council district 8, a contest mainly between Term-limited Member Diana Ayala Chief of Staff Elsie Encarnacion, former Ben Kalos Legislative Director Wilfredo López, Bronx Community board 1 chair Clarisa Alayeto and member of the Exonerated (Central park) five Raymond Santana sees Elsie Encarnacion lead with 10.5% 

The NYC Council District 13 Dem Primary, a contest to face off against Republican Kristy Marmorato sees former executive vice president of SEIU 32BJ Shirley Aldebol lead a divided field with 30.1% of the vote. 

Attaining the most institutional endorsements through her connections through the SEIU—one of NYC's most prominant Labor Unions—Aldebol was endorsed by the Working Families Party, while also being the second choice of U.S. Rep Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (She'd endorsed investor David Diaz as her first choice)

The 2025 NYC Council District 14 Democratic Primary, a contest between incumbent Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez and former Conservative Democratic councilperson Fernando Cabrera saw Sanchez Trounce Cabrera by 44.3% in a race that was thought to be competitive heading into election day. 

Endorsed by a broad section of Labor unions, including U.S. Rep AOC and Comptroller Brad Lander, Pierina's win maintains this Cuomo-voting City Council district on the left WFP/Establishment-alligned wing of the Democratic party (despite the broader establishment remaining neutral in the primary), 

The NYC Council District 21 Democratic Primary, a contest between local community board member Shanel Thomas-Henry, Progressive AOC-endorsed Erycka Montoya, Queens Democratic Party candidate & District leader Yanna Henriquez, and neophyte David Aiken sees an unresolved race to see who will succeed Term limited incumbent Francisco Moya

A man who also ran, but was disqualified and prevented from being on the ballot, was former councilperson Hiram Monserratte—whom had pleaded guilty to corruption charges durring his last stint as a city-councilmember 

The 2025 NYC Council district 30 Dem primary, a race to succeed Term limited incumbent Robert Holden pitted Holden's budget director Phil Wong against unaligned businessman Paul Pogozelski and Queens Democratic party endorsed Dermot Smyth. 

An As of yet defined contest, the RCV tabulation will decide which one of Phil Wong or Paul Pogozelski is the nominee, though due to the historical tendency for FPTP leaders to win even with RCV, Wong (also endorsed by Curtis Sliwa) stands a strong chance of making it to the general.

The 2025 NYC Council District 38 Dem Primary, a contest that pitted one of 2 NYCDSA councilpeople, Alexa Aviles, against senior casework manager for congressman Dan Golden, Ling Ye—seeing Avilez win a comanding 44% victory over Ye, losing only the Chinese-heavy precincts at the southern border of the district.

The NYC Council District 39 Dem Primary, a comfortable reelection for Brad Lander-successor Shahana Hanif saw her beat back a well financed and publicized challenge from Maya Kornberg. 

Despite the NYT catagorizing this as a victory for the first Muslim Councilwoman in a race defined by Israel and Gaza, both Hanif and Kornberg sought to enphasize local issues in their campaigns, with Hanif making an issue of Kornberg financial support from big corporations, such as Uber

However, this did not mean that Israel did not play an issue at all, as Kornberg saw significant support from people—outside the district—who were opposed to Hanif's stalwart support of Gaza throughout the past two years since 2023.