New York City will have its Democratic Primaries next Tuesday and a lot is at stake for Asian-Americans in New York City.  Not only are all three citywide offices up for grabs, but most of the City Council offices in Queens as well as Manhattan’s Chinatown are up for grabs

Citywide

Mayoral

The mayoral primary will determine who will run against incumbent Michael Bloomberg.  Defeating Mayor Bloomberg may prove a daunting task due to his record, bottomless campaign fund and endorsements from both the left and the right.  The current frontrunner is former comptroller William Thompson and his chief rival is Queens councilman Tony Avella.  Tony Avella is infamous for being unable to work with his colleagues and pandering to his nativist constituents by opposing new businesses owned by minorities in his district.  Most recently, his spearheading of campaigns to block the sale of an old airfield to a Korean group and forcing a new Korean spa to relocate are indicators of his temperament.  It will be in the best interests of Asian Americans in NYC to ensure that Avella does not win regardless if you plan to vote for Thompson in November.  It should be noted that only Mayor Bloomberg has made efforts to reach out to the Asian-American community although all three men have largely ignored Asian-Americans in this race.

Comptroller

The comptroller is silently the second most important post in New York City as he controls the purse strings.  The mayor and the city council cannot accomplish anything without the OK from the comptroller’s office.  As referenced in this post, John Liu is gradually pulling away from the other three candidates and has demonstrated his ability to build a large ethnic coalition and attention to details.  If elected, he will likely butt heads (as he always has) with the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority) over wasteful spending and fare hikes as well as Mayor Bloomberg on virtually all issues.  Either way, it is important for whichever candidate that wins to turn the office into the bully pulpit and act as a second Public Advocate for the people of New York.  Key issues that need focus are crumbling infrastructure, financial restraint and congestion.

City Council Races

District 1 - Chinatown

The two API candidates in this race are P.J. Kim and Margaret Chin.  This is very likely the year that Chinatown finally has an API representative, but either candidate first needs to unseat incumbent Alan Gerson.  Although the intensity in this race is not quite as high as it is in NY's other Chinatown (Flushing), Kim and Chin have traded barbs.  We will see on Tuesday if this has turned off voters in the district.

District 19 - Bayside

Kevin Kim has faced strong adversity in this race (it's the district of the aforementioned Tony Avella) and vandalism of his signs and campaign materials have been caught on tape.  He has managed to pull down the endorsement of his boss, Congressman Gary Ackerman as well as coming from behind to take the fundraising lead in the race.  Kevin Kim has also run a campaign that involves many youth in the district which is increasingly becoming common in API campaigns in New York.  He has promised to control development in the district and also boasts trilingual credentials to appeal to constituents.  His chief obstacle to the nomination is Peter Vallone who has the backing of Mayor Bloomberg.

District 20 - Flushing

Businessman S.J Jung and Chief-of-Staff John Choe have managed to separate themselves from the pack despite a late push from district leader James Wu.  Most recently Choe has pulled down the endorsement from the Times Ledger, the newspaper that has most closely followed this race including hosting one of the debates.  The Democratic establishment and organized labor has also solidified behind John Choe.  Jung and Wu have countered by pulling endorsements from the New York Times and Queens Tribune respectively.  Jung still has strong backing in the Hispanic community and recently pulled an endorsement from one of the major Spanish language newspapers as well as several Hispanic elected officials.  Wu's late push comes on the backs of endorsements from firefighters, police and Congressman Anthony Weiner. (Although it is important to note that based on the content of his remarks about the endorsement he may have no idea what's really happening in the district.)

The level of political discourse in this district got very ugly with sign vandalism, accusations of racism and ethnic campaigning.  It should be hoped that in future political races that API's and non-API's alike can learn from this and run campaigns that the people deserve.

District 25 - Jackson Heights

This district is heavily South Asian but the two frontrunners in the race are not API.  Attorney Stanley Kalathara has managed to hang on despite significant obstacles and a dwindling campaign fund.  Although his candidacy is a long shot, his work in the community as well as this campaign has introduced him to the voters and may help him in a future campaign.  His major campaign issue involved attacking the incumbent for voting down term limits.

District 23 - Hollis

The API candidate here is Swaranjit Singh.  Although he has run a strong and mostly positive campaign, he may have upset potential voters by claiming to be "endorsed by God".  Unfortunately, claiming divine right only works for Protestant candidates in national elections and has little footing in New York City.  That aside, Singh has served extensively in community and is considered a major leader among NYC's Sikh population.  He may be able to pull off an upset in this election but has made a strong case for this office or another public office within the community in the future.