Manhattan primary results: Micah Lasher and Jordan Wright win nominations

While the headlines from Tuesday’s primary in New York focus on George Latimer’s victory over Congress Member Jamaal Bowman for a Bronx/Westchester Congress seat, Manhattan saw incumbents and establishment favorites prevail in a big way.

No real surprises emerged from the June 25 primary in Manhattan, though Democrats in two Manhattan Assembly districts chose likely successors to incumbents slated to retire at the end of this year. With Democrats dominating Manhattan, the primary winners are a virtual shoo-in for victory in the November general election.

Micah Lasher, former policy director to Gov. Kathy Hochul, dominated a five-candidate field in winning the primary for the 69th Assembly District seat held by the retiring Danny O’Donnell. The 69th District covers portions of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights.

O’Donnell has endorsed Northup as his preferred successor; Northup had also received support from left-leaning organizations like the New York Working Families Party and Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club.

But Lasher secured strong support among local Democratic elected officials. He boasted endorsements from US Reps. Jerry Nadler and Adriano Espaillat, the area’s current Council Member Gale Brewer and Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine. He also received the backing of major labor unions like HTC and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT).

In the end, the contest wasn’t all that close. With 98.75% of scanners reporting, Lasher had a clear majority of votes (52.82%) with a nearly 2,500-vote edge on Northup, who was a distant second. Following behind Northurp were Carmen Quinones, Melissa Rosenberg and Jack Kellner.

Meanwhile, Jordan J.G. Wright, son of Manhattan Democratic Party boss Keith Wright, won a four-way contest to succeed the retiring Inez Dickens for the 70th Assembly District seat. The 70th District covers much of Central Harlem.

Jordan Wright was Dickens’ chosen successor and has the backing of City Council Member Yusef Salaam, whose district council overlaps with the 70th Assembly District. He also worked as Salaam’s campaign manager in the lawmaker’s successful bid for council last year.

With 98.89% of the precincts reporting, Wright won 48.27% of the vote over former City Council candidate Maria Ordonez, who finished second with 29.68% of the vote. Also running were Shana Harmongoff and Craig Schley.

Incumbent Assembly Member Eddie Gibbs, meanwhile, appeared to survive a strong challenge for his 68th Assembly District seat. The district includes East Harlem, part of the Upper East Side and Randall’s Island.

Gibbs — the first formerly-incarcerated individual to hold public office in the Empire State — has been in office since 2022. He won endorsements from several powerful labor unions including District Council 37 (DC37), 32BJ SEIU and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, but got into hot water over a campaign mailer that falsely claimed that Hochul, Nadler and other elected officials had endorsed him.

In the end, voters seemed to forgive Gibbs, who won 42.53% of the vote hand held a roughly 500-vote edge over his closest rival, Community Board 11 Chair Xavier Santiago, who had 33.6% of the vote. Tamika Mapp and William Smith rounded out the field.

Just one Congressional race impacting Manhattan was on the ballot, and it was another victory for the incumbency. Freshman Congress Member Dan Goldman fended off two challengers — Bruno Garndsard and Evan Hutchison — for the 10th District seat covering southern Manhattan and northern Brooklyn. He garnered a little more than 65% of the vote.

Primary results

All results are unofficial. Totals are from the New York City Board of Elections and reflect the total Primary Day and early voting votes. They do not yet include absentee and mail-in ballot votes cast; those votes will be counted next week. Projected winners in each contest are denoted with a checkmark (√) next to their name. 

Congress

10th District (Brooklyn/Queens) (98.99% scanners reported)

State Senate

59th District (East Side/Queens/Brooklyn) (97.74% scanners reported)

Assembly

68th District (98.77% scanners reported)

69th District (98.75% scanners reported)

70th District (98.89% scanners reported)

71st District (99% scanners reported)

72nd District (93.51% scanners reported)