Primary Race To Replace Danny O’Donnell In UWS Assembly Seat Heats Up

Danny O’Donnell, the longtime District 69 NYS Assembly Member that represents the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights, is not seeking reelection. This has triggered one of the most hotly contested races in the city, which is holding its primary on June 25. O’Donnell began his legislature career in 2002, when he became the first openly gay man to win a seat in the State Assembly.

Four candidates are running: Carmen Quinones, Eli Northrup, Melissa Rosenberg, and Micah Lasher. Three of the aspirants have already collected a wealth of endorsements, although none from O’Donnell, who has yet to decide on whether to weigh in on the race.

Quinones, a longtime NYCHA activist and the tenant association president at Frederick Douglass Housing, officially announced her run on Jan. 30. She posted on social media that she would be a “tireless advocate for our dreams, struggles, and shared vision of a community where every resident thrives.”

Lasher, who until recently served as the Director of Policy for the State of New York under Governor Kathy Hochul, has earned endorsements from the political establishment including Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, U.S. Representative Jerrold Nadler, UWS City Council Member Gale Brewer, and the West Side Democrats.

Before his recent stint with the governor’s office, Lasher held a bevy of prominent government positions. Starting his career an aide in Nadler’s office, he went on to serve as the Director of State Legislative Affairs for the City of New York under Mayor Michael Bloomberg. He also served as the Chief of Staff in the Office of the New York State Attorney General. Lasher is also the chair of the Riverside Park Conservancy’s board, and has served on the board of the gun-control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety.

Lasher is running on three core issues: mental health, affordable housing, and public education. Some of these platform planks intersect. For example, he wants to introduce more mental health experts and guidance counselors into schools. As far as his affordable housing plank goes, Lasher said he wants to fight for the rights of rent-regulated tenants, touting his role in helping create a “City/State Tenant Harassment Prevention Task Force“ during his stint in the NYS A.G.’s office.

Northrup, a public defender that served as a policy director at The Bronx Defenders–a legal services nonprofit–has pulled in endorsements from two high-profile progressive groups: the Working Families Party and the Sunrise Movement, an environmental advocacy organization.

Northrup’s platform revolves around the following planks: community safety, affordable housing for all, public education and universal childcare, an inclusive economy, health care & reproductive rights, and climate change.

Specifically, Northrup said he’ll fight for measures such as Medicare for All and champion the tenant-protection package known as “Good Cause Eviction.” He also supports efforts to enshrine abortion rights in the New York State Constitution. His vision for an inclusive economy includes advocating for women-owned and minority-owned businesses. He will also aim to “implement policies” that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Rosenberg, who has served on Manhattan’s Community Board 7 for a number of years, is also playing up her involvement with Everytown for Gun Safety. She has been identified as a real estate lobbyist in a City & State profile, and is a member of OpenNY, a pro-development advocacy group that has recently been the source of some heated back-and-forth drama on the West Side’s Community Board 5.

She’s gathered an endorsement from from the NYC New Liberals, which is connected to the Progressive Policy Institute, a centrist think tank founded by the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) in 1989.

Rosenberg is running on issues such as “combatting hate and bias,” ensuring abortion rights, and defending “reasonable” and “stable” rent increases for tenants.

A representative for O’Donnell told The Spirit that the incumbent has yet to make any endorsements, and has been “trying to focus” on his last few months in office. He would “most likely” decide whether to offer an endorsement once his schedule calms down a bit in Albany, the spokesperson added.

Update/Correction: Jack Kellner, a physician, is also vying for the Assembly District 6 seat. He is running on issues such as: cementing tenant protections, providing additional monitoring to improve living conditions for NYCHA residents, fighting the uptake of Medicare Advantage plans, and instituting term limits of 8 years for state legislators.