This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Did you really think either one of them could lose? Gov. Kathy Hochul and her chosen lieutenant, Antonio Delgado, have got a few fellow Democrats in their rearview mirror as they ride off into the general election thanks to their Tuesday night Democratic primary victory.  The challengers never really had a chance when both Hochul and Delgado had already made history for being the first female and first Afro Latino to hold their respective offices. Not to mention all that campaign cash and the TV spots. See ya! 

A group of primarily Republican leaders – including Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella and City Council Minority Leader Joe Borelli – celebrated this week after a Staten Island judge ruled in favor of their lawsuit, striking down a new law that would have allowed noncitizens to vote in city elections. While the plaintiffs applauded the ruling for reiterating that noncitizen voting is illegal, there may be more battles to come. Supporters of the council-backed measure have vowed to appeal. 

Forget Mr. Smith, this time Mr. Percoco goes to Washington. The former Cuomo enforcer who was in prison for bribery and corruption will get his shot to argue before the U.S. Supreme Court that he was, in fact, simply talking about pasta whenever he mentioned ziti. Joe Percoco was found guilty as part of a bid-rigging scandal which was part of the now infamous Buffalo Billion plan and sentenced to six years in federal prison. After being released from prison early last year, SCOTUS agreed to hear his appeal. It’s not every day the Supreme Court picks up your criminal case.

Socialist Sarahana Shrestha made waves on election night, defeating incumbent Kevin Cahill in the Democratic primary for the 103rd Assembly District. In an otherwise lackluster night for progressives, Shrestha took down a longtime incumbent far outside the traditional Democratic Socialists of America confines of New York City.  The climate organizer was endorsed by the Working Families Party and the DSA. If elected in November, Shrestha would be the first socialist from upstate New York to serve in the state Legislature.  

Even though he was the GOP’s pick for the nomination, Rep. Lee Zeldin’s victory on primary night was far less certain than those of his now competitors to the left, making the win that much sweeter. Very early vote counts showed Andrew Giuliani, who was better-known to most voters thanks to name recognition, ahead of Zeldin on Tuesday. And Harry Wilson’s accidental text to Zeldin calling his aides “scumbags,” as the New York Post reported just a day before the election, likely made beating him by wide margins all the more satisfying.

Incumbents had a pretty good election night on Tuesday, avoiding an insurgent sweep despite over a dozen of them facing challenges this year. But there’s always an exception to the rule, and this year, Assembly Members Tom Abinanti, José Rivera and Kevin Cahill are those unfortunate exceptions. Abinanti and Rivera both faced decisive losses against MaryJane Shimsky and George Alvarez, respectively.

After an alleged near brush with death when the former New York City mayor was tapped on the back by an employee at a ShopRite supermarket, Rudy Giuliani is getting backlash for filing a false police report. The incident, in which Giuliani described as feeling like he had been “shot” when touched by the store employee, wasn’t worth being reported as a crime, according to New York City Mayor Eric Adams. To add to a rough week, his son Andrew Giuliani also lost the GOP primary race for governor. 

If the Supreme Court hadn’t ruled the way it did in Citizens United, maybe this Jane Street Capital investor could have saved a bunch of money. Instead, he seeded the super PAC Moving NY Forward with $1.5 million to support five candidates in contested primaries, and every one of them lost. Nearly $500,000 went towards littering Bronx streets with mailers for Manny Martinez alone – and he came in third to George Alvarez and José Rivera. Even Wall Street whales make a bad investment sometimes.

Despite the Working Families Party’s backing of a slate of candidates, Tuesday’s primary election proved a disappointing night for progressives statewide, including Jumaane Williams in the governor’s race. At the helm of the Working Families party’s efforts to oust seven Assembly Democratic incumbents was Sochie Nnaemeka, its state director, who says the influence of “big money” and uneasiness brought on by the economy and federal inaction led to the lackluster night. 

You win some, you lose some. Unless your Rep. Tom Suozzi and Diana Reyna, then you’re just losing. For Reyna, she didn’t really give up anything to run for lieutenant governor. But in addition to losing the Democratic primary for governor, Suozzi also lost his seat in Congress. And after all the money they spent to increase their profiles across the state, both came in third place, behind the far less financially endowed left-wing competition.