Three weeks from Tuesday, New Yorkers will go the polls for an off-year election that has so far generated scant public interest.

While all 51 City Council seats are technically up for grabs, the spotlight will be on a handful of contests that are considered competitive.


What You Need To Know

  • Voters go to the polls Nov. 7 to vote on races for City Council, district attorney and a pair of state constitutional amendments
  • Fourteen of 51 Council races are uncontested; south Brooklyn's District 47 is among the most competitive, featuring sitting Councilmembers Justin Brannan and Ari Kagan
  • Three of the city's district attorneys are on the ballot: Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz has two opponents, while Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon are running unopposed
  • Voters will decide on two constitutional amendments, affecting small school districts and sewage projects upstate

 

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That includes the newly configured District 47, which winds its way from Bay Ridge to Bath Beach and Coney Island.

Two sitting Councilmembers, Justin Brannan and Ari Kagan, were both drawn into District 47 in last year’s redistricting process. Kagan then switched parties from Democrat to Republican, setting up a showdown in next month’s general election.

District 43, which includes parts of Sunset Park and Bensonhurst, is a newly drawn district that is majority Asian. Democrat Susan Zhuang is facing Republican Ying Tan and Conservative Party candidate Vito LaBella.

The seat has no incumbent and is being watched closely, as Asian voters have been skewing increasingly conservative in recent elections.

“The thing that we’ve been seeing with Asian-American voters, but particularly with Chinese-American voters in New York, is that many of them are unaffiliated, meaning they do not necessarily have loyalty to the Democratic Party or the Republican Party,” said Democratic political consultant Trip Yang.

While 14 of the 51 Council races are uncontested, some incumbents have stiff competition.

In District 19 in northeast Queens, covering neighborhoods like Whitestone, Bay Terrace and Auburndale, Republican Vicki Paladino is facing a rematch against Democrat Tony Avella, a former councilman and state senator who narrowly lost to Paladino in 2021.

Councilwoman Marjorie Velazquez of the Bronx and Queens Councilmembers Sandra Ung and Linda Lee also face tough challengers.

Three of the city’s five district attorneys are on the ballot, but while Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, a Democrat, has two opponents, Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon are unopposed, guaranteeing their re-election.

And voters will decide on two constitutional amendments, affecting small school districts and sewage projects upstate, though good-government groups say city residents should weigh in.

“We all need to have an effective government and a constitution that works for everybody, and if New York city doesn’t help upstate, upstate’s not going to help New York City," said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York. “We’re all in this together.”

A number of judgeships are also on the ballot, though many of those races are also uncontested. Early voting gets underway on Saturday, Oct. 28.