The endorsements for New York’s 10th Congressional District

It’s the race of the summer! It’s got everyone: a firebrand Assembly member with a nascent national profile, a City Council rising star, an octogenarian barrier breaker who last served in Congress in 1981, an impeachment lawyer rolling in campaign cash and a popular freshman Congress member who, ahem, recently relocated. 

The race to represent New York’s new 10th Congressional District, comprising lower Manhattan, brownstone Brooklyn, Sunset Park and parts of Borough Park, is wide, wide open with 13 candidates on the ballot. Endorsements are flying – and not always where you would expect. For example, the prominent health care workers union 1199 SEIU backed City Council Member Carlina Rivera over a staunch ally, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who later dropped out of the race. Progressive standard bearers at the Working Families Party endorsed Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, choosing her over Rep. Mondaire Jones, who they endorsed for Congress in 2020 in a different district. Even former President Donald Trump jumped in, trying to muddy the waters with a tongue-in-cheek “endorsement” of Dan Goldman, who helped impeach Trump as lead counsel to the House Democrats 

Days earlier, on the first day of early voting, The New York Times endorsed Goldman, a backing that is expected to be a major factor in the race.

Endorsements signal to voters a candidate’s ideological positioning and demonstrate the breadth, depth and nature of their support. A particularly popular endorser can help mobilize voters. We scoured press releases, social media and candidates’ websites to compile a list of the most current endorsements, as of Aug. 19.

Daniel Goldman, former director of investigations and senior adviser to the House Intelligence Committee

Labor: Teamsters Local 202

Organizations: Borough Park Hasidic leadership, The New York Times, The Steady State, Village Independent Democrats

Elected officials: State Sen. Brad Hoylman, Assembly Members Bobby Carroll, Brian Cunningham and Simcha Eichenstein

Other public figures: Former Reps. Steve Israel and Ed Towns, former Lt. Gov. Dick Ravitch, former Assembly Member James Brennan, former New York City Council Member Kathryn Freed, gun violence activist Jackie Rowe-Adams, former U.S. National Security Council Director for European Affairs Alexander Vindman, Assembly candidate Grace Lee

Elizabeth Holtzman, a former member of Congress

Organizations: National Organization for Women – NYC, New York Daily News

Other public figures: Feminist activist Gloria Steinem, former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, former state Sen. Tom Duane

Mondaire Jones, member of Congress for the 17th district

Labor: Communications Workers of America Local 1180, National Nurses United, RWDSU, Uniformed Fire Officers Association

Organizations: Congressional Black Caucus PAC, Congressional Progressive Caucus PAC, Council for a Liveable World, Demand Justice PAC, Democracy for America Action, End Citizens United/Let America Vote, Equality PAC, Grand Street Dems, Human Rights Campaign, New York Progressive Action Network, Progressive Turnout Project, Victory Fund, PRIDE Democrats of New York City

Elected officials: U.S. Sens. Cory Booker (NJ), Ed Markey (MA); House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (CA), Reps. Ruben Gallego (AZ), Pramila Jayapal (WA), Barbara Lee (CA), Ted Lieu (CA) and  Jamie Raskin (MD), Assembly Member Danny O’Donnell

Maud Maron, former public defender

Organizations: Asian Wave Alliance, Coalition for Common Sense Covid Recovery, Parent Leaders for Accelerated Curriculum & Education, Parents Protecting Childhood, New Era Democrats

Other public figures: Transgender activist Buck Angel

Yuh-Line Niou, Assembly member

Labor: Alliance of South Asian American Labor

Organizations: Asian American Action Fund, Bangladeshi American Advocacy Group, Brooklyn Asian Civilian Observation Patrol, Chuches United for Fair Housing Action, the Desiree Alliance, Downtown Women for Change, Indivisible Nation BK, The Jewish Vote, Muslim Democratic Club of New York, National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund (joint endorsement with Rivera and Simon), New Downtown Dems, New York Communities for Change, New York Working Families Party, No IDC NY, On Leong Merchants Association, Progressive Women of NY, Save Our Storefronts NY, Sunrise Movement NYC, Taiwanese Americans for Progress

Elected officials: New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams; state Sens. Jabari Brisport, John Liu and Julia Salazar; Assembly Members Phara Souffrant Forrest, Emily Gallagher, Ron Kim, Marcela Mitaynes and Michaelle Solages; New York City Council Members Tiffany Cabán and Shahana Hanif; Boston Mayor Michelle Wu; Michigan state Sen. Stephanie Chang, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu; California Assembly Member Ash Kalra, Virginia State Delegate Mark Keam

Other public figures: Former gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, comedian Ronnie Chieng, former Manhattan district attorney candidate Tahanie Aboushi, comedian Bowen Yang

Rescinded endorsements: Assembly Member Brian Cunningham

Carlina Rivera, New York City Council member

Labor: 1199 SEIU, AFM Local 802, IATSE Local 1, New York City and Vicinity District Council of Carpenters, New York State Iron Workers District Council, Teamsters Joint Council 16, Teamsters Local 817, Transport Workers Union of America, TWU Local 100, Uniformed EMS Officers Union Local 3621, Uniformed EMTs, Paramedics and Fire Inspectors Local 2507

Organizations: 504 Democratic Club, Coalition for a District Alternative LES, Emgage Action, Guarding Against Pandemics PAC, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Latino Victory Fund, League of Humane Voters New York, National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund (joint endorsement with Simon and Niou), New York League of Conservation Voters, Nuestro PAC, Open New York, Poder PAC, Stonewall Democratic Club of New York City, United Democratic Organization, Vote Pro Choice, Voters for Animal Rights

Elected officials: Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Nydia Velázquez; Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine; State Sen. Jessica Ramos; New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, New York City Council Members Alexa Avilés, Diana Ayala, Erik Bottcher, Selvena Brooks-Powers, Eric Dinowitz, Amanda Farías, Jennifer Guitérrez, Kamillah Hanks, Rita Joseph, Ari Kagan, Farah Louis, Julie Menin, Mercedes Narcisse, Sandy Nurse, Chi Ossé, Keith Powers, Lincoln Restler, Rafael Salamanca Jr., Lynn Schulman, Althea Stevens, Sandra Ung and Marjorie Velázquez

Other public figures: Former New York City Council Member Margaret Chin, former City Council candidate Jenny Low, former U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke

Brian Robinson, CEO of Churchill Credit Solutions

Organizations: Downtown New Yorkers, The Jewish Press, New Yorkers for Safer Streets

Jo Anne Simon, Assembly member

Organizations: Central Brooklyn Independent Democrats, Downtown Independent Democrats, Independent Neighborhood Democrats, Lambda Independent Democrats of Brooklyn, National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund (joint endorsement with Rivera and Niou)

Elected officials: State Sen. Roxanne Persaud; Assembly Members Peter Abbate, Steve Cymbrowitz, Pat Fahy, Deborah Glick and Linda Rosenthal

Other public figures: Former state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, former Assembly Member Joan Millman, former New York City Council Member Margarita López

Other candidates include Quanda Francis, a business consultant and president of Sykes Capital Management, who was endorsed by rapper CL Smooth. Also running are Peter Gleason, an attorney; Jimmy Li and Yan Xiong, a human rights activist. They have not received any notable endorsements yet. 

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio dropped out of the race on July 20, but before that had been endorsed by UNITE HERE Local 100, New York City Council Member Mercedes Narcisse, former Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, former Rep. Ed Towns and San Juan Mayor Miguel Romero.