Race to the Run-off

Just a handful of Democratic voters will likely choose the city’s next comptroller and public advocate, in what is expected to be a very low-turnout run-off on Sept. 29. On primary day, Sept. 15, only 11 percent of the city’s voters bothered to come out. The races for public advocate and comptroller were the nail-biters of the day, with no candidate broaching the 40 percent mark needed to avoid a run-off. And in a city where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a large margin, the winners of these two contests next Tuesday will likely cruise to an easy victory in November. Read more

Election Cheat Sheet

During the past few months, these papers have provided ongoing coverage of the various candidates vying for office this fall, as well as overviews of the mayor’s race focused on a different topic each month. To help readers before they head to the polls on Sept. 15, we’ve created a simplified roundup for each candidate in the Democratic Primary. Read more

Decision ’09: Primary Profiles

With two major citywide races and one Manhattan-wide contest this September, Democratic primary voters could be forgiven for feeling a little overwhelmed. On primary day, a total of 11 candidates will vie for three high-profile positions: city comptroller, public advocate and Manhattan district attorney. (And that’s not even counting the mayoral primary race, although most think the outcome is a foregone conclusion, and other miscellaneous contests.) Read more

Who Is the Next Public Advocate?

There is bad news and good news for public advocate candidates Eric Gioia, Bill de Blasio and Norman Siegel. Mark Green is favored to win the post he held from 1994 to 2001, according to a May 13 poll. But nearly a third of the city’s registered Democrats are unsure which candidate they will support in the Sept. 15 primary, and there are still many months of expensive campaigning to go before any one candidate can be declared the front-runner. Read more