2019 New York City Public Advocate special election

The 2019 New York City Public Advocate special election was held on February 26, 2019, to fill part of the unexpired term of Letitia James's vacated seat as New York City Public Advocate. It was triggered on January 1, 2019, when James resigned to take office as Attorney General of New York.

2019 New York City Public Advocate special election

February 26, 2019

Candidate Jumaane Williams Eric Ulrich Melissa Mark-Viverito Party It's Time Let's Go Common Sense Fix the MTA Popular vote 133,809 77,026 44,158 Percentage 33.2% 19.1% 11.0%

Public Advocate before election Letitia James Democratic Elected Public Advocate Jumaane Williams Democratic

By statute, New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson served as acting Public Advocate for the time between James’ resignation and the inauguration of Jumaane Williams, who won the election.

As with all special elections in New York City, it was officially nonpartisan, and candidates who file for the race must create a unique party line that will be displayed on the ballot. A partisan primary and a November general election were held later in 2019 to complete the remaining years of James' term.[1]

Candidates

Declared

Following ballot petition challenges and appeals, the Board of Elections certified the subsequent list of candidates that are in chronological order of petition filings, along with their unique party lines, and will appear on the ballot in this sequence:[2][3][4][5]

• Melissa Mark-Viverito (Fix the MTA), former Democratic Speaker of the New York City Council
• Michael Blake (For The People), Democratic New York State Assemblymember and a Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee
• Dawn Smalls (No More Delays), attorney
• Eric Ulrich (Common Sense), Republican New York City Councilmember
• Ydanis Rodríguez (Unite Immigrants), Democratic New York City Councilmember
• Danny O'Donnell (Equality For All), Democratic New York State Assemblymember
• Rafael Espinal (Livable City), Democratic New York City Councilmember and former State Assemblymember
• Latrice Walker § (Power Forward), Democratic New York State Assemblymember
• Jumaane Williams (It's Time Let's Go), Democratic New York City Councilmember and candidate for Lieutenant Governor in 2018
• Ron Kim (No Amazon), Democratic New York State Assemblymember
• Benjamin Yee (Community Strong), activist
• Manny Alicandro (Better Leaders), lawyer
• Nomiki Konst (Pay Folks More), activist and journalist
• David Eisenbach (Stop REBNY), professor and Democratic candidate for Public Advocate in 2017
• Jared Rich (Jared Rich for NYC), attorney
• Anthony Herbert (Residents First), activist
• Helal Skeikh (Friends of Helal), former Democratic City Council candidate

Disqualified

• Theo Chino, bitcoin entrepreneur
• Ifeoma Ike, activist
• Walter Iwachiw, perennial candidate
• Abbey Laurel-Smith, artist
• Danniel Maio, business owner
• Gary Popkin, professor
• Michael Zumbluskas, activist

Declined

• Chirlane McCray, First Lady of New York City[6]
• Christine Quinn, former Speaker of the New York City Council[7]

§ Indicates candidate has withdrawn from race but will still appear on ballot

Results

2019 New York City Public Advocate election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jumaane Williams	133,809	33.2
	Republican	Eric Ulrich	77,026	19.1
	Democratic	Melissa Mark-Viverito	44,158	10.9
	Democratic	Michael Blake	33,198	8.2
	Democratic	Ydanis Rodriguez	24,266	6.0
	Nonpartisan	Dawn Smalls	16,522	4.1
	Democratic	Rafael Espinal	12,929	3.2
	Democratic	Daniel J. O'Donnell	11,477	2.85
	Democratic	Ron Kim	11,434	2.84
	Nonpartisan	Benjamin Yee	10,390	2.5
	Democratic	Nomiki Konst	9,339	2.3
	Democratic	Helal Sheik	5,179	1.2
	Democratic	David Eisenbach	3,200	0.79
	Nonpartisan	A. Manny Alicandro	3,002	0.75
	Nonpartisan	Anthony Herbert	2,918	0.72
	Democratic	Latrice Walker §	2,282	0.57
	Nonpartisan	Jared Rich	938	0.23
	Nonpartisan	Write-ins	711	0.18
	Democratic hold
Total votes			402,778	100

Note: All candidates were officially non partisan.

References

1. "Public Advocate Race Could Cause Cascade of Elections | WNYC | New York Public Radio, Podcasts, Live Streaming Radio, News". WNYC. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
2. Barkan, Ross. "Who Wants To Be NYC's Next Public Advocate?". Gothamist. Archived from the original on November 30, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
3. "It's New York's Hottest Contest: The Race for Public Advocate (Really)". The New York Times. January 4, 2019. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
4. "Public Advocate Special Election Ballot Finalized with 17 Candidates". Gotham Gazette. January 30, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
5. "The Contest List:Special Election Public Advocate" (PDF). New York City Board of Elections. January 30, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
6. "NYC's first lady isn't running for public advocate, but she won't rule out another office". NY1. September 17, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2019.
7. "Quinn 'seriously considered' public advocate, but not running". The Villager. November 26, 2018. Retrieved January 27, 2019.