Two StreetsPAC-Backed Candidates Win Primaries for Open Seats in Albany

There were a few surprises in yesterday’s State Senate and Assembly primary races, with some incumbents losing their seats. Candidates who got the nod from StreetsPAC and pledged to support MoveNY toll reform and street safety legislation won two of the five open seats in which the organization made an endorsement.

Yuh-Line Niou won a six-way contest to succeed convicted felon Sheldon Silver in Lower Manhattan’s Assembly District 65. Niou bested Alice Cancel, the Silver-backed incumbent who won a special election earlier this year to serve out Silver’s term, as well as StreetsPAC pick Paul Newell.

Niou has worked as chief of staff for Ron Kim, who represents Flushing in the Assembly. Her web site mentions making streets “safe and accessible for seniors and families,” but transportation issues are otherwise not addressed.

In other Assembly action, StreetsPAC-endorsed Robert Carroll won the Democratic primary in Brooklyn’s District 44. The district is currently represented by James Brennan, who is retiring.

Carmen De La Rosa, the StreetsPAC favorite in Inwood’s District 72, easily beat incumbent Guillermo Linares. De La Rosa, former chief of staff for City Council transportation chair Ydanis Rodriguez, will have no opposition in November.

In another upset, attorney Brian Barnwell ousted longtime incumbent Margaret Markey in Assembly District 30, which covers Maspeth and Woodside. StreetsPAC made no endorsement in that race.

Marisol Alcantara, backed by the faction of Democrats who caucus with Republicans in the State Senate, won a tight race to succeed State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who is headed to Congress, in Upper Manhattan’s District 31. StreetsPAC-endorsed Micah Lasher finished second by a few hundred votes.

Incumbent James Sanders Jr. fended off a challenge from StreetsPAC pick Adrienne Adams in southern Queens’s Senate District 10.

Two other Assembly candidates endorsed by StreetsPAC, Brooklyn’s Felix Ortiz and Jo Anne Simon, had no primary opposition.

Complete election results are posted on the state Board of Elections site.