NYC’s #1 Source for Political & Election News
LGBTQ Candidates Get Out the Vote Before Primary Day
With election looming, future of queer representation is up in the air
BY MATT TRACY
With early voting already
underway in
New York City, LGBTQ
political candidates
are hitting the pavement
and locking down as many votes
as possible ahead of the June 22
primary.
Dozens of queer candidates are
running for offi ce across different
levels of government during a
crucial election year when the City
Council’s entire LGBTQ caucus
will soon depart due to term limits
— and one out city lawmaker,
Ritchie Torres, has already left following
his election to Congress.
There is not only pressure to
replace the fi ve-member LGBT
Caucus, but to grow it — and the
election cycle presents new opportunities
to bring diversity to an
LGBT Caucus that consists entirely
of men. All of that is a big question
mark, however, and the future of
LGBTQ representation in city government
is hanging in the balance.
One of the most competitive
Council races in the city is in
Brooklyn’s 35th District, where
Crystal Hudson is facing top rival
Michael D. Hollingsworth and
a handful of others. Hudson has
been posting pictures on the campaign
trail alongside high-profi le
politicians like Brooklyn Congressmember
Hakeem Jeffries and,
most recently, mayoral candidate
Maya Wiley, after Wiley and Hudson
cross-endorsed each other.
If elected, Hudson would be the
fi rst out LGBTQ Black woman in
the City Council — and she did
not shy away from that in a recent
campaign ad.
“I’ve never been represented by
somebody who holds all of my identities,”
Hudson said in the campaign
video. “It is the fact that I am
Crystal Hudson (left) could become the fi rst out LGBTQ Black woman to be elected to the City Council.
a gay Black woman that I am a better
representative of everybody.”
In Manhattan, Kristin Richardson
Jordan, a Black lesbian woman
running in Central and East
Harlem, Morningside Heights,
and the Upper West Side, has outspent
every other candidate in an
exceptionally crowded race. She
is spending the fi nal week of the
race canvassing at polling sites,
knocking on doors, and phone/
text banking.
“My campaign and I are currently
working on informing residents
of Central Harlem and our
supporters on when, where, and
how they can vote,” she told Gay
City News. “The majority of our
current focus is direct in-person
outreach.”
In Queens’ District 29, Lynn
Schulman, who is running for
City Council for the third time, is
following up with voters she has
identifi ed, knocking on doors, and
TWITTER/@CRYSTALRHUDSON
making last-minute calls.
“We are also covering early voting
sites with volunteers and have a
robust ‘get out the vote’ plan to get
my voters out for primary day,” said
Schulman, who hopes to become
the fi rst out LGBTQ woman elected
to the City Council from Queens.
Marti Allen-Cummings, aiming
to make history as the fi rst
non-binary city lawmaker, has
been posting photos and videos
from the campaign trail in their
Upper Manhattan district, where
they hope to succeed term-limited
Councilmember Mark Levine. In
the mayoral race, non-binary candidate
Paperboy Prince is on the
ballot, but is not viewed as a serious
contender.
The abundance of queer candidates
has also translated into multiple
City Council races with more
than one LGBTQ competitor. In a
race for Speaker Corey Johnson’s
seat in Manhattan’s District 3,
Erik Bottcher — Johnson’s former
chief of staff — is up against Phelan
Dante Fitzpatrick. In District 5
on Manhattan’s east side, out gay
candidate Chris Sosa and out bisexual
candidate Billy Freeland
are competing in the same race.
“Many New Yorkers are excited
about the opportunity to vote for
even one candidate from the LGBTQ+
community. In District 5,
voters have the rare opportunity
to rank two,” Sosa told Gay City
News. “I’m grateful to my community
and opponents for making
this race among the highest caliber
in the entire city… Team Sosa
is on the streets every day talking
and, most importantly, listening to
voters.”
Johnson, one of the fi ve out city
lawmakers who will soon be forced
out by term limits, is blitzing the
fi ve boroughs in his quest to become
the city’s next comptroller
and the fi rst out LGBTQ person
elected to citywide offi ce. His pit
stops in recent days have included
the East Village, Riverdale, Coney
Island, Bushwick, and Flushing.
Johnson is a leading candidate,
but faces competition from one
of his Council colleagues — Brad
Lander of Brooklyn — as well as
from Michelle Caruso-Cabrera,
among others. Johnson picked up
the support of the Jim Owles Liberal
Democratic Club, but Lander
secured the backing of two other
queer clubs — the Lambda Independent
Democrats of Brooklyn
and Stonewall Democratic Club of
New York City.
LGBTQ candidates are also running
in different borough-wide races.
In Manhattan, State Senator
Brad Hoylman is hauling around
massive campaign signs during
the fi nal days of an open race for
➤ LGBTQ CANDIDATES, continued on p.19
PoliticsNY.com PoliticsNYnews PoliticsNYnews PoliticsNYnews
GayCityNews.com | June 17 - June 23, 2021 11
/PoliticsNY.com
/GayCityNews.com
