Wednesday’s Headlines: A Huge Night For Livable Streets Edition

Elections have consequences … or so we hope!

In last night’s primaries, candidates who embrace the livable streets movement pretty much trounced those who did not.

The single biggest example? Darializa Avila Chevalier beat incumbent Rep. Adriano Espaillat. Her margin of victory in the Democratic primary was narrow, but the gulf between Chevalier, a Democratic Socialist, and Espaillat, a bike lane opponent and recidivist driver, is vast. (Who could forget this Streetsblog piece on Espaillat?)

In addition, livable streets darling, long an endorsee of StreetsPAC, Brad Lander defeated incumbent Rep. (and SUV driver) Dan Goldman.

And in a less-intense race (from the street safety perspective), Democratic Socialist Claire Valdez beat Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso. Both candidates had previously been endorsed by StreetsPAC, the livable streets political action committee.

In down-ballot races (all of which can be reviewed on NY1’s handy list), the good news continued:

• In Queens:
  • Assembly Member Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, who was endorsed by StreetsPAC, defeated incumbent Sen. Jessica Ramos, who was very much not.
  • Pesach Osina, who was endorsed by StreetsPAC for his support for the QueensLink and for better bus service, won the primary for the open Assembly seat in Howard Beach and the Rockaways.
  • Patrick Martinez, whom StreetsPAC chose partly because he’s never owned a car (!), won the primary to succeed state Sen. Steven Raga in Elmhurst. (But as of 11:30, it was very close, so check back.)
  • Brian Romero, another StreetsPAC endorsee, won the race to succeed Gonzalez-Rojas in the Assembly.
  • Assembly Member Diana Moreno, who was endorsed by StreetsPAC for “leading on issues of traffic safety” as well as being a cyclist, won re-election.
  • Samantha Kattan, a tenant organizer, Democratic Socialist and StreetsPAC endorsee, won the primary for the open 37th Assembly seat covering Ridgewood, Sunnyside and Maspeth.
  • David Orkin, endorsed by StreetsPAC over incumbent Assembly Member Jenifer Rajkumar, a frequent livable streets and e-bike foe, resoundingly won the primary for the Woodhaven seat.
  • Incumbent Assembly Member Catalina Cruz, also endorsed by StreetsPAC, won the primary to retain her Corona seat.
• In Brooklyn:
  • Assembly Member Brian Cunningham, endorsed by StreetsPAC for his work on camera-based enforcement, won the primary to retain his seat in Crown Heights.
  • Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, one of StreetsPAC’s strongest endorsees, easily won her primary in Greenpoint.
  • Assembly Member Jo Anne Simon, also endorsed by StreetsPAC, won in Carroll Gardens.
  • Sen. Jabari Brisport, whom StreetsPAC called “a reliable supporter of safer streets and better public transit,” easily won the primary to retain his Bedford-Stuyvesant seat.
  • Challenger Christian Tate, a Democratic Socialist, consultant and StreetsPAC endorsee, soundly defeated longtime incumbent Assembly Member Erik Dilan, who has been virtually nonexistent on livable streets issues in the Bushwick and East New York district. Tate led the effort to get that local community board to oppose the NYPD’s criminal crackdown on cyclists, a rare win.
  • Eon Huntley, also DSA and a StreetsPAC endorsee, defeated incumbent Assembly Member Stefani Zinerman in Bedford-Stuyvesant’s 56th district. Huntley supports universal daylighting and wants the state Department of Motor Vehicles to be more proactive in addressing unsafe driving.
• In Manhattan:
  • Illapa Sairitupac, a tenant organizer, immigrant-rights activist and StreetsPAC endorsee, won the primary for the open Assembly seat in Chinatown.
  • Eli Northrup, who ran with StreetsPAC’s nod to succeed Lasher for a West Side Assembly seat, won the primary. StreetsPAC had praised his opposition to licensing and registering legal e-bikes and his advocacy for better street design.

Of course, it wasn’t all good news:

• Jibreel Jalloh, a challenger for the open Assembly seat in Canarsie who got the StreetsPAC bump, lost to incumbent Assembly Member Jaime Williams.
• Ryder Kessler, who ran with the StreetsPAC endorsement, to succeed Assembly Member Deborah Glick, lost badly to Jeannine Kiely (though StreetsPAC had nice things to say about Kiely).
• Raga, endorsed by StreetsPAC for an open state Senate seat, lost badly. On the plus side, StreetsPAC said it “also felt very positively about … community organizer Aber Kawas,” who defeated the Assembly member.

Everyone covered it. Gothamist spun it as a “Mamdani wave” (and the News and Times had a similar take, while the Post mocked the Socialists for apparently winning). The Daily News also led with the Espaillat bombshell, and the Times did the “Meet Darializa Avila Chevalier” treatment.

StreetsPAC didn’t immediately issue a glowing post mortem, but Riders Alliance spokesman Danny Pearlstein did, calling the election “a huge victory for New York public transit riders up and down the ballot,” and touted victories by its endorsed candidate Assembly Member Phara Souffrant Forrest, plus all the others.

And, finally, our friend Ben Kabak had a hot take:

In other news:

• The big news yesterday was the battle between the MTA and Amtrak’s Andy Byford over Penn Station. Gothamist, the Daily News and Streetsblog reported that CEO Janno Lieber is pissed that Byford wants the MTA to join the Trump-run renovation project.
• Meanwhile, Assembly Member Tony Simone wrote an op-ed in the Daily News warning President Trump to keep his hands off.
• City and State has Eyes on the Cupola.
• The War on Cars podcast has a good one this week, looking at how (or even if) reckless drivers should be punished.
• Speaking of the war on cars, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez joined it … with us!