New York primary results: IDC-challengers triumph in state Senate primaries

Nearly all the Democratic state senators who were sharply criticized for caucusing with Republicans for several years lost their primary races on Thursday.

Six members of the former Independent Democratic Conference represent parts of the city. Five of them lost, including the leader of the breakaway group, Sen. Jeff Klein (Bronx).

Klein lost to Alessandra Biaggi, a lawyer and former operations director on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Biaggi ran a campaign similar to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ’s winning race against Rep. Joseph Crowley, going door-to-door in her district and not accepting corporate donations.

“If this does not prove that the political currency of this time is people over money, I don’t know what does,” Biaggi said at her watch party Thursday night.

Klein formed the IDC in 2011, claiming to be unhappy with the Democratic leadership. In 2012, the IDC senators shifted the majority from Democrats to Republicans, and Klein shared the title of majority leader with Sen. Dean Skelos, the then-leader of the Republicans. Critics say the move helped block progressive legislation from passing in the Senate.

The group of eight senators disbanded in April, but their challengers didn’t back down, accusing the former IDC members of being “fake Democrats.”

In Queens, community organizer Jessica Ramos defeated Sen. José Peralta, and former City Comptroller John Liu won against Sen. Tony Avella. In Brooklyn, Zellnor Myrie, a lawyer and former legislative director in City Council, beat Sen. Jesse Hamilton, and in Manhattan, former City Councilman Robert Jackson defeated Sen. Marisol Alcantara. The only former IDC member to win in the city was Sen. Diane Savino, who represents part of Staten Island.

In another high-profile race in Brooklyn, newcomer Julia Salazar, a community organizer, defeated incumbent Sen. Martin Dilan. Dilan was not a member of the IDC, but Salazar also ran a grass roots campaign and attacked her opponent for taking money from the real estate industry.

All the primary winners will run in the general election on Nov. 6.

Here’s a look at the results, according to The New York Times, of all the state Senate Democratic primaries in the city:

Bronx, District 34

Alessandra Biaggi: 54%

Incumbent Jeffrey Klein: 46%

Brooklyn, District 17

Incumbent Simcha Felder: 66%

Blake Morris: 34%

Brooklyn, District 18

Julia Salazar: 59%

Incumbent Martin Dilan: 42%

Brooklyn, District 20