Two years ago, when a Democratic socialist narrowly won a crowded Democratic primary for a Harlem City Council seat, some saw it as a sign that the historically black neighborhood was becoming more politically progressive.
But about a month before this year’s June 27 primary, first-term Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan unexpectedly dropped out of the race. His decision has reshaped the hotly contested Democratic primary, which now includes three candidates, none particularly progressive.
Two are members of the State Assembly: Al Taylor, 65, a reverend in his sixth year in the legislature; and Inez Dickens, 73, who held the Harlem Council seat for 12 years before joining the Assembly. The third candidate is Yusef Salaam, 49, one of five men convicted and later exonerated of the rape and assault of a female jogger in Central Park in 1989.
All are moderate Democrats who, before Ms. Jordan’s withdrawal, had sought to distance themselves from Ms. Jordan and her policy positions, which include wealth redistribution and police abolition.
But with the incumbent out of the race, the candidates have turned on each other. Mr. Salaam questioned Ms Dickens’ behavior as a landlord and asked her during a debate how many people she had evicted in the past two decades. Ms. Dickens initially answered one, but The Daily News found it approximately 17 eviction proceedings had been initiated.
Ms. Dickens said her family-run businesses rent units below market rate and some of the tenants involved in eviction proceedings were in arrears for four years or more. “I have done more to preserve and protect affordable housing in Harlem than any other candidate in this race,” said Ms. Dickens.
His campaign, in turn, has questioned the experience of Mr. Salaam after his campaign appeared to be in the deficit and over the $207,000 spending limit, before he filed amended paperwork.
Then the race took a strange turn this week at a women’s rally for Mrs. Dickens, when former Representative Charles B. Rangel, explaining how Mr. Salaam had called him before entering the race, he commented that Mr. Salaam had a “foreign name”. .” Mr Salaam responded on social media that “we all belong in New York City.” Mr. Rangel, through a spokeswoman for Mrs. Dickens, said he meant no offence, and meant that the foreigner was unknown to him.
The two men spoke Friday afternoon and resolved the issue, representatives from both campaigns confirmed.
Ultimately, the race could be decided by more district-related issues, including the loss of black residents, a lack of affordable housing and concerns about an oversaturation of drug treatment centers.
All three candidates hold positions that underscore how soon the district will be represented by a moderate. Ms. Dickens opposed the so-called just-cause eviction measure, which would have limited a landlord’s ability to raise rents and evict tenants, if it had passed the state legislature. Mr. Taylor has voted against abortion rights in the past based on religious objections, but recently voted in favor of a measure that would allow voters to add an equal rights amendment to the state Constitution . Mr. Salaam supported congestion pricing, but said he still had reservations about how it would affect Harlem.
All three have garnered the support of major Democratic groups and leaders: Ms. Dickens of the United Federation of Teachers and representative Adriano Espaillat; Mr. Taylor of the New York District Council of Carpenters; and Mr. Salaam was recruited to run for the seat by Keith LT Wright, the former congressman and chairman of the Manhattan Democratic Party.
The Greater Harlem Coalition voted for Ms. Dickens before Jordan dropped out of the race. The carpenters’ union said its sole aim was to defeat Ms Jordan.
Mr. Taylor said not all of Ms. Jordan’s supporters necessarily supported her more left-wing stances, such as defunding the police. “I don’t think I’ve cornered the market in this community,” he said in an interview.
Ms. Jordan’s 2021 victory over incumbent Bill Perkins was less a district-wide endorsement of far-left views and more the culmination of “galvanized anti-establishment” sentiment that has been building against the once powerful but now fading Harlem political machine. said Basil Smikle, director of the Public Policy Program at Hunter College.
“There is an interest in finding an alternative and setting a new course,” said Mr. Smikle.
Ms Jordan, whose name will still be on the ballot, may have been her worst enemy. she was criticized for using Council funds to promote your campaign. His far-left positions on policing, housing development and the war in Ukraine drew a backlash from colleagues and voters. He missed almost half of his committee meetings, city records show.
Syderia Asberry-Chresfield, co-founder of the Greater Harlem Coalitiona group that organizes against the oversaturation of social services in the neighborhood, felt that Mrs. Jordan was too far to the left.
“We understood that changes needed to be made,” said Ms. Asberry-Chresfield. “But some of her changes were so radical and she wasn’t willing to bend.”
Ms. Jordan declined to comment. But Charles Barron, a left-wing alderman who represents eastern New York and is one of Ms. Jordan’s few allies in the City Council, said her left-leaning positions irritated the general Democratic leadership and their financial backers who “prefer establishment elected officials over independent, strong, black radicals like her.
The remaining three candidates did not differentiate themselves much during a forum at the National Action Network in Harlem earlier this month and in a debate Tuesday night on NY1.
All are in favor of housing development at 145th Street and Lenox Avenue, a proposal Ms. Jordan initially rejected as not affordable enough. The candidates said they were not in favor of the city’s use of stop-and-frisk tactics, which a federal monitor recently said was being used in a discriminatory manner.
When it comes to the influx of migrants seeking asylum, Ms Dickens, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Salaam said they support New York City’s status as a sanctuary city, but questioned whether the billions of dollars being spent to house and feed migrants should be done as well. available to New Yorkers experiencing homelessness.
No one wants Ms. Jordan’s endorsement.
Of the three, Mr. Salaam has gone more aggressively after potential supporters of Ms. Jordan using her conviction, exoneration and persecution by former President Donald J. Trump as a linchpin of his campaign. Speaking at a community center for seniors in East Harlem last week, Salaam drew the loudest applause when he criticized Mr. Trump, who in 1989 bought full-page ads in four city newspapers, including The New York Times, calling for the death penalty to be reinstated because of the Central Park case.
“Who better to participate in leading people than one who has been close to pain?” said Mr. Salaam.
Mr. Salaam and Mr. Taylor tried to undermine Ms Dickens’s chances by giving a mutual endorsement on Tuesday. Voters can rank their primary choices down to three, and the men encouraged supporters to make the other their second choice. Two days later, Ms. Dickens responded by organizing the women’s rally where she said the two men in the race were conspiring against her and unveiled a more prestigious endorsement: Mayor Eric Adams.
Speaking at the Harriet Tubman Memorial in Harlem, the mayor highlighted Ms. Dickens’ moderate positions, saying she understands “the balance between public safety and justice” and that “it’s good to have a business-friendly city.” .
At the recent National Action Network forum, there was no issue, from affordable housing to whether he supported closing the Rikers Island prison complex, which Mr. Salaam did not link with his conviction or the almost seven years he spent in prison, with the visible. annoyance of Mrs. Dickens, who has highlighted her experience.
Mr. Salaam supports closing the Rikers Island prison complex and opening local jails, while Ms. Dickens and Mr. Taylor have expressed concern about the opening of local jails.
This still hasn’t helped Mr. Salaam to get the support of local progressives. A political action committee associated with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Ms. Jordan when she first ran, but is unlikely to make another endorsement.
Progressive national figures such as Cornel West, the professor and activist who recently announced a run for president, and Keith Ellison, the progressive attorney general of Minnesota, have endorsed Mr. salaam .
“Donald Trump said he should have the death penalty,” Ellison said. “Who can talk about how the system should be better and more effective than Yusef Salaam?”
