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The primaries held today in the state of New York to elect the 26 candidates of the Democratic Party in the next legislative elections have resulted in a victory of the names linked to the “establishment” of the party, which defeated without difficulty the contenders that would have represented a certain renewal, according to the preliminary results.
The most hotly contested district was the 12th, where Jerry Nadler —a 30-year-long congressman who boasts of his leading role in the impeachment trials of former President Donald Trump–- won over Suraj Patel, a young man of Indian origin who had been a flag bearer of generational renewal.
To appreciate the nature of Nadler (who obtained 56% of the votes), suffice it to say that his candidacy was openly endorsed by The New York Times, as well as by the leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Chuck Schummer.
The main loser, however, was Carolyn Maloney, another political veteran with another thirty years of presence in the House of Representatives and who for the first time loses her seat only because of the capricious new design of constituencies that the Democrats have drawn with the sole purpose of closing the way to the Republicans.
In the 17th district, the young Alessandra Biaggi, backed by Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, could not beat Sean Patrick Maloney (no relation to Carolyn), who has been in the Democratic Party since 1991 and today doubled the number of votes of his rival.
Somewhat more closely contested was the race in the crowded 10th District (southern Manhattan and Brooklyn). Here, the race was led by Daniel Goldman, a former federal prosecutor who served as counsel for House Democrats in Trump’s first impeachment proceeding. Goldman was only two percentage points ahead of state Congresswoman Yuh-Line Niou, further to his left.
In that district, Puerto Rican candidate Carlina Rivera, a Big Apple councilwoman, didn’t stand a chance, and there are not many well-placed Latino candidates in these primaries, despite the rise of Spanish-speaking communities in almost all areas of the city.
As for the (minority) traditionally Republican districts, the results of the 23rd were outstanding, where businessman Carl Paladino came out ahead of New York Republican Party Chairman Nick Langworthy.
