Four takeaways from Monroe County NY primary elections and results democratandchronicle.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from democratandchronicle.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Politics is all about power. Yeah, that’s a little cliché, but it’s also the easiest way to explain what’s happened in the Monroe County Legislature over the past year or so. Since Democratic County Executive Adam Bello took office in January 2020, two different power struggles have been playing out in the Legislature, where Republicans hold a one-seat majority over Democrats. Rifts in the local Democratic Party over the selection of an elections commissioner and other matters led four Democratic legislators to break away from their colleagues and form the Black and Asian Democratic Caucus.
A state judge has thrown out a lawsuit filed by Republican Party operatives in Monroe County that sought to keep 37 Democratic candidates from appearing on the Working Families Party line in upcoming primary and general elections. The Republicans had alleged that the Working Families Party failed to properly authenticate nominating petitions for candidates it was seeking to cross-endorse. Their case, filed in state Supreme Court in early April, mirrored those of 13 others filed by Republicans in counties across the state. Eventually, all 14 cases were combined and assigned to State Supreme Court Justice Scott Delconte of Oswego County, who dismissed each of them on technical grounds.
FILE PHOTO Mayor Lovely Warren joined with County Executive Adam Bello in June to announce a commission formed to tackle systemic and institutional inequities as well as racism across Monroe County.
Rochester Mayor Lovely Warren has been designated by the Monroe County Democratic Committee as its mayoral candidate. Warren, who is seeking a third term, faces a primary challege from City Councilmember Malik Evans, who is also a former president of the city school board. Warren received roughly 63 percent of the city Democratic committees weighted vote during the party s designating meeting Saturday, though Evans topped her in the Southeast legislative district committees.
The People s Slate is a four-person coalition seeking to fill City Council at-large seats. The Slate is made up on of Brittan Hardgers (left), Stanley Martin, Kim Smith, and Kevin Stewart. Last year, they marched on City Hall. Now, a handful of organizers of the 2020 protests are hoping to march into City Hall as members of City Council. The foursome of Democrats, who dub themselves “The People’s Slate,” is comprised of Free the People organizer Stanley Martin; VOCAL-NY organizer Kim Smith; Brittan Hardgers, a barber and staple of local Black Lives Matter protests, and Kevin Stewart, a quiet fixture at the protests who did much of his organizing behind the scenes.