Primary responsibility
Today is primary day. As last week’s Supreme Court decisions eviscerating New York’s sensible restrictions on gun possession and ending a federal right to abortion remind us, democracy remains the best way to get a government responsive to the public’s desires. Our first and most fundamental ask is that all who are eligible for the honor to turn out and make their preferences at the polls. Early turnout has been anemic in comparison to earlier years, surely in part because a greedy Legislature pushed through gerrymandered and unconstitutional maps that got thrown out — and then failed to consolidate two primaries — leaving this as the first of two summer trips to the polls. Today you can vote for nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, state Assembly (along unconstitutional lines) and some judicial seats.
Our second ask is that, if you’re a Democrat, you fill out the bubble next to the name of the incumbent, Kathy Hochul. The first woman to lead our state stepped up to the plate at a time of crisis following her predecessor’s hasty resignation, still in the middle of a pandemic and facing massive economic and housing challenges.
While she’s had some notable whiffs and fouls — picking the crooked Brian Benjamin as her lieutenant and securing a mass giveaway of public funds to the Buffalo Bills — she’s hit some solid doubles, passing sensible modifications to bail reform and parole laws and gun laws, and steering a fiscally responsible budget.
If you’re a Republican, your best bet for state executive is Harry Wilson, an eminently decent man with exemplary management chops who doesn’t drink the rotten Trumpist milk that his rivals are swigging.
In two open Assembly districts choose Layla Law-Gisiko or Harrison Marks in Manhattan and Johanna Carmona in Queens.
For Civil Court judge, vote for Karen Lin and Thomas Medardo Oliva in Queens and Patrick Hayes Torres in Brooklyn. Manhattanites should back David Alan Fraiden and choose Elba Rose Galvan for Surrogate Court.
And as we said, please go vote.