On Thursday September 13, New York held primaries for its upcoming state elections, the last primaries in any state for the 2018 election cycle. New York is the only state that holds its federal and state primary elections on different dates, and this means that congressional primaries happened last June. State primaries, however, included competitive elections from the governor’s race at the top of the ticket all the way down to the race for Tompkins County sheriff.
At the top of the ticket, incumbent governor Andrew Cuomo defeated actress Cynthia Nixon in the Democratic primary 65 percent to 35 percent in his quest for a third term. Nixon, who tried to challenge Cuomo from the left, made multiple appearances in Ithaca, including stops late in the campaign at the Ithaca Farmers Market and The Space at Greenstar. A closer race turned out to be the Democratic primary for Lieutenant Governor, where incumbent Kathy Hochul squeaked by a challenge from New York City Councilman Jumaane Williams, who captured 47% of the vote. Williams, like Nixon, made a visit to Ithaca in early September, where he spoke at SouthSide Community Center. Despite their losses statewide, both Nixon and Williams carried Tompkins County. The Democratic ticket of Cuomo and Hochul will face Republican nominee Marc Molinaro and his running mate Julie Killian, who were uncontested in their primaries.
In addition to the races for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, the Democratic Primary for the office of New York State Attorney General was a competitive three-way field, where no incumbent was running. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman had been on track to seek reelection until last May, when the New Yorker exposed his history of sexual abuse. Schneiderman resigned later that month, and the appointed replacement, Barbara Underwood, chose not to seek reelection. The three leading candidates in the Democratic primary for the office were New York City Public Advocate Letitia “Tish” James, law professor Zephyr Teachout, and Congressman Sean Patrick Maloney. James won the three-way primary, and if she defeats Republican nominee Keith Wofford, will become the first African-American woman to hold statewide office in New York.
More local to Ithaca, New York’s 58th Senate District, currently represented by Republican Tom O’Mara, may be one of the state’s closer elections for a seat in the upper chamber of the state legislature. In 2016, O’Mara won just under 55 percent of the vote in the district, which includes the City of Ithaca. The race for the Democratic nomination to oppose him came down to Schuyler County Legislator Michael Lausell and Ulysses waitress Amanda Kirchgessner. Kirchgessner ultimately defeated Lausell, winning 62 percent of the vote.
Within Tompkins County, the election for the office of Sheriff also became competitive with the entry of retired undersheriff Derek Osborne into the race earlier this year. Osborne challenged incumbent Sheriff Ken Lansing in the Democratic primary, where he ran on a platform of reforming current practices in the office of Sheriff. Osborne beat Lansing 61 percent to 38 percent. Lansing, however, will remain on the ballot in the general election as nominee for the Independence Party. Lansing and Osborne will be joined on the general election ballot by journalist Josh Brokaw, who is running as an independent.
The general elections for all of these races will take place on November 6. The deadline for voter registration is Friday, October 12.