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Getting arrested almost always lands a politician on the losers list. But getting arrested on purpose, like New York City Mayoral candidate Shaun Donovan did by blocking traffic at a racial justice protest on Tuesday? That could be considered a win. But getting online mockery for a pre-planned stunt that felt like he was trying to copy Bill de Blasio in 2013? That may be a loss. But de Blasio did win so… we’ll leave this one to the voters. Until the election, here are some clearer winners and losers.
Winners:
Mike Ryan
There’s still plenty that can go wrong in the upcoming New York City primary elections – like wet weather and long ballots – but at least city Board of Election Executive Director Mike Ryan isn’t starting in the negative column. After months of uncertainty about whether some unlucky BOE schlubs would have to count hundreds of thousands of ballots by hand in June, the state Board of Elections finally approved software to tabulate ranked-choice results automatically. And that means Ryan will even be able to enjoy his July 4 weekend, the results will only take a week to determine, rather than a month or more of tedious hand counts.