BY PAUL SCHINDLER | Incumbent District 6 City Councilmember Helen Rosenthal easily surmounted challenges from her 2013 runner-up, Mel Wymore, and Dr. Cary Goodman to win renomination in last week’s Democratic primary. Rosenthal captured just under 65 percent of the vote, compared to 31 percent for Wymore and four percent for Goodman. Wymore, a longtime member of Community Board 7, had run largely on his assertion that Rosenthal’s office was unresponsive to community residents’ requests for assistance, while Goodman centered his campaign on his opposition to the American Museum of Natural History annexing a small portion of the surrounding Theodore Roosevelt Park for its planned expansion. Though Wymore captured some local Democratic club support, Rosenthal earned a string of endorsements from progressive groups working on tenant, disability, and LGBTQ issues.
Rosenthal now faces Republican Hyman Drusin and independents Bill Ruadenbush and David Owens in the Nov. 7 general election.
In the Upper West Side’s District 7, incumbent Councilmember Mark Levine captured nearly three-quarters of the vote to defeat Thomas Lopez-Pierre, whose campaign faced harsh criticism for the candidate’s pattern of racially divisive and anti-Semitic appeals. Levine faces Green Party candidate Florindo Troncelliti on Nov. 7.
On the Upper East Side, in District 5, incumbent Ben Kallos captured the Democratic primary, with three-quarters of the vote against community organizer Patrick Bobilin and education advocate Gwen Goodwin. Kallos is unopposed in the Nov. 7 election.
