Primary May Be Coming for Judge & Congress
The Yonkers Democratic Committee held its nominating convention last week, and made endorsements for upcoming races this November for Congress, City Court, Assembly and State Senate. While most nominations were made with unanimous endorsement, several Yonkers democrats did step forward to run for one of three seats on the Yonkers City Court up for election in November.
Five candidates put their names forward for City Court: incumbent City Court Judge Tom Daly, recently appointed City Court Judge Brendan McGrath, and attorneys Verris Shako, Dan Romano and Allison Burke.
After all of the votes of the district leaders were tallied, the totals were: Tom Daly with 92.5 percent, or 17,634 votes; Verris Shako with 92.8 percent, or 17,698 votes; Brendan McGrath with 72.9 percent, or 13,914 votes; Daniel Romano with 28.4 percent, or 5,411 votes; and Allison Burke with 13.4 percent, or 2,565 votes.
Daly, McGrath and Shako, who received the highest number of voters, were officially endorsed by the Yonkers Democratic Party.
“The numbers were evident that the district leaders went with the candidates they felt more comfortable with,” said Yonkers Democratic Chair Tom Meier. “We only have three open seats, and a lot of good, qualified candidates competed for those three seats. But in the end, the majority of our district and ward leaders were to go with the incumbent Judge Daly, and the recent appointment by the mayor, Judge McGrath, leaving one seat left, and Verris Shako got 93 percent of the democratic leaders’ votes.”
Meier said that while he had hoped to avoid a primary, he believes that at least one candidate for judge will be running in a primary June 23. At the convention, candidates were asked: If you do not receive the nomination, will you support the nominees?
All candidates answered “yes,” except for Dan Romano, who is expected to run in a primary for the democratic nomination for City Court judge.
“If you primary one candidate, you primary them all,” said Meier. “There is no way to predict how the voters will choose three out of four candidates, or three out of five candidates for City Court judge. It’s a roll of the dice and sometimes depends on whose name is on top of the ballot. Recently a lot of women are getting elected because more women are coming out and voting, but we just don’t know. It’s not a shoo-in to win just because you are an incumbent.”
Administrative Law Judge Karen Best is another candidate that may opt for a primary. Last year she ran as a write-in candidate for City Court. Meier said the best path for all candidates was to “come back next year, work for the party and support the endorsed candidates, and a seat will open up in the future.”
Other candidates that were interested in seeking the democratic nomination did not put their names in for nomination after realizing they were not going to get a majority of votes from those democratic leaders present.
Other endorsements and nominations made by the Yonkers Democratic Party last week include: Eliot Engel for Congress, 16th District, who was unanimously endorsed by the Yonkers Democratic Party, but a primary is expected, from Jamaal Bowman.
Also, four Democratic incumbents – State Senators Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Sen. Shelley Mayer, and Assemblymen Nader Sayegh and Gary Pretlow – were all unanimously endorsed and are not expected to be facing any opposition from within the Democratic Party. All four might not have any republican opposition in November.
Petitioning begins Feb. 25 and will be finished at the end of March – so if you are a Yonkers Democrat, expect a knock on your door for your signature. Also remember that there will be early voting again in 2020 in Yonkers. Early voting will give voters that option again, 10 days prior to the primary in June, and 10 days prior to the general election.
