Jumaane Williams Loses NY Democratic Primary for Governor

NEW YORK, New York – Caribbean American candidate for Governor of New York Jumaane D. Williams Tuesday night resoundingly lost in his bid to unseat incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul in the New York Democratic Primary. 

Jumaane Williams during a rally. (via CMC)Williams, New York City’s Public Advocate and son of Grenadian immigrants, ran a spirited campaign as a left-leaning candidate but was unable to unseat Hochul in a three-way race that also involved US Congressman Thomas R. Suozzi, a centrist from Long Island, a New York City suburb.

Hochul, New York’s first female governor, won the primary in a landslide, receiving 574, 608 votes, or 67.6 percent, according to preliminary results. 

Williams was a distant second, receiving 164,337 votes, or 19.3 percent, while Suozzi garnered 110,888, or 13 percent.

Though he lost badly, the results showed that Williams put up his best fight in Brooklyn, where there is the heaviest concentration of Caribbean immigrants, receiving 39 percent of the votes to Hochul’s 53 percent and Suozzi’s 9 percent. 

US Congressman Lee Zeldin, a conservative ally of former President Donald J. Trump, who won the Republican Primary on Tuesday, will challenge Governor Hochul in November’s general elections. 

“We cannot and will not let right-wing extremists set us backward on all the decades of progress we’ve made right here, whether it’s a Trump cheerleader running for the governor of the State of New York or Trump-appointed justices on the Supreme Court,” Hochul told jubilant supporters at a victory party in TriBeCa in Manhattan Tuesday night. 

“I’m deeply honored to be the Democratic nominee for Governor of New York. On to November! It’s the honor of my life serving as your governor, New York. I’m humbled to accept the Democratic nomination and continue fighting to move our state forward — together.” 

Williams had said that if he was elected governor, he would be “an advocate for all New York families and communities in our shared struggle for justice and equity – regardless of zip code”. 

“Whether you’re Black or white, Asian or Latino, from upstate or downstate, no matter who you are or where you live, I will fight hard for you,” he had said.

Victorious Caribbean candidates in Tuesday’s Democratic Primary were Haitian Assembly Member Mathylde Frontus in the 46th Assembly District in Brooklyn, who received 60.82 percent of the votes to Dionne Brown-Jordan’s 31.79 percent; and Souffrant Forrest in the 57th Assembly District, also in Brooklyn, who received 63.90 percent of the votes to Olanike Alabi’s 30.97 per cent. 

In the 24th Assembly District in Queens, Guyanese-born Albert Baldeo was soundly beaten by Assembly Member David Weprin in a three-way race. Baldeo received 14.8 percent of the votes to Weprin’s 62.79 percent and Mizanur Choudhury’s 15.87 percent.