Manhattan DA Election

[Coastal_Elite]

I noticed there hasn't been a thread yet about the primary for New York County (Manhattan) DA on June 22nd to replace the current DA Cyrus Vance Jr, who is retiring. There are eight candidates running, four are more moderate and four are more progressive. This election will NOT be conducted using RCV since it is a county-wide race rather than a city-wide race.

First, the moderates:
1) Tali Farhadian Weinstein: A former federal prosecutor and generally seen as the front runner in the race, she is facing attacks for literally being in bed with Wall Street (her husband is wealthy hedge fund manager Boaz Weinstein) and accusations that her raking in of Wall Street money will leave her vulnerable to "pay for play." -- Farhadian Weinstein has been endorsed by Congressman Ritchie Torres, former NAACP President Ben Jealous, Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, and former Attorney General Eric Holder.
2) Lucy Lang: A former prosecutor under Vance, she then led the Institute of Innovation in Prosecution at CUNY's John Jay College. -- Lang has been endorsed by an array of DAs from across the nation as well as by survivors of Harvey Weinstein's abuse and by the mothers of Sean Bell, Philando Castile, and Delrawn Small.
3) Diana Florence: A former prosecutor with over 20 years of experience in the DA's office, she has come under fire for past accusations of prosecutorial misconduct and has faced admonition by the New York Criminal Bar Association as a result. -- Florence has been endorsed by a variety of local trade unions.
4) Liz Crotty: An ADA in Manhattan, she is running the most conservative, "law-and-order" centered campaign. -- Crotty has been endorsed by the New York City Police Benevolent Association.

The progressives:
1) Alvin Bragg: A former federal prosecutor and a former chief deputy New York state attorney general. The only Black candidate in the race, he is emphasizing his experience as a federal prosecutor as well as his background a Black man from Harlem, in addition to his leadership of a special state unit to investigate police-involved killings, to show that he is the best reformer out of the eight candidates. -- Bragg has been endorsed by The New York Times, Color of Change, former U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, and former Congressman Charlie Rangel.
2) Eliza Orlins: A public defender and former contestant on Survivor and The Amazing Race, she is running a solidly left-wing campaign. She has the greatest number of individual donors as well as more than 120,000 Twitter followers, but out of those donors only about a fifth are from Manhattan and it is yet to be seen if her social media following can translate into electoral success. -- Orlins has been endorsed by members of the Twitterati including Alyssa Milano, Fred Guttenberg, and Charlotte Clymer.
3) Tahanie Aboushi: One of the more progressive candidates and sister of Chargers offensive guard Oday Aboushi, she has called for wide-scale reforms to the DA's office. These reforms include refusing to prosecute charges related to gang conspiracy, driving without a license, disorderly conduct, sex work, and the possession, use, manufacture, or sale of drugs, as well as refusing the use of the DNA and Gang databases. -- Aboushi has been endorsed by the Working Families Party, NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, State Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, former NY gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, and activist Linda Sarsour.
4) Dan Quart: An advocate for criminal justice reform in the State Assembly, he is emphasizing his background pushing for legislation such as New York's bail reform laws but has failed to gain traction despite being the only candidate who has won an elected office. -- Quart has been endorsed by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and State Assemblyman Ron Kim.

Only one poll has been conducted, surveying 281 Manhattan voters in early May, with Farhadian Weinstein in first place with 19% and Lang in second place with 10%, but also with a third of voters remaining undecided.

Who will win, and who do you support?

[Coastal_Elite]

Thanks for the summary, good work!

I'm actually opposed to hold elections for such positions. First because the office by nature shouldn't be politicized, even if it's formally a nonpartisan election. And second, even more important, I doubt a lot of people pay attention to such elections in the first place. It's just too many elections that no average person can keep track with. Low turnout and weak legitimization are inevitable consequences. Such positions should be filled by appointment of governors or mayors and legislative confirmation.

On topic, it should be noted that the winner would have to handle a potential Trump indictment, upon which Vance will have to decide before leaving office, according to MSNBC.

Sorry, I probably should have noted this is just the Democratic primary. I'm not sure if there's even a Republican running, even if there is it doesn't matter since Manhattan is so solidly Democratic.

I'm curious as to how some of the candidates would handle a potential Trump indictment, particularly Orlins, Quart, and Aboushi; those three are the ones out of the eight candidates who do not have any prosecutorial experience.

[Coastal_Elite]

Early returns are showing Bragg in the lead with 34.6%, with Farhadian Weinstein in second place with 30.4%. Note that this race will not use RCV.