Four Assembly Race Candidates To Learn Democratic Party Pick Soon

The votes of fewer than 200 people on Dec. 10 may decide who the next downtown Assembly member will be. The Democratic nominee is almost assured of election in a special election that is expected to be held sometime in February to fill the vacant seat.

Four potential candidates for the Democrats are in the running: Sarah Batchu, Kevin O’Keefe, Marquis Jenkins, and Keith Powers.

Their fate will be decided on Dec. 10 in a vote of fewer than 200 delegates to the Democratic Committee of New York County who reside in the 74th Assembly district. The venue was not yet disclosed at press time.

It brings into sharp focus the remnants of the old clubhouse system that dominated the New York political scene in the days of Tammany Hall.

The New York County Democratic Committee has informed the four that it will vote on Dec. 10 to determine which one will become the official standard-bearer for the Democratic party in the upcoming special election that will determine who will serve out the term that ends at the end of 2026.

In the heavily Democratic district, winning the endorsement as the official Democratic candidate is akin to winning the general election. When Harvey Epstein ran for re-election to the seat in 2024, the Republican party did not put up a candidate. And as soon as Epstein was re-elected, he announced he would not fulfill the two-year term but would instead stand for City Council. He won the seat convincingly in the Nov. 4 election and is expected to take his seat after being sworn in on Dec. 5. [He gets sworn in before the traditional Jan. 1 swearing-in date because the Council seat has been vacant since Carlina Rivera resigned in August to take a job running a not-for-profit organization.]

The quartet of Dem hopefuls made their respective pitches at a candidate forum in Kips Bay on Nov. 18, sponsored by the four leading downtown Democratic clubs: the Eleanor Roosevelt Independent Democratic Club, the Samuel Tilden Democratic, the Coalition for District Alternatives, and the Three Bridges Democratic Club.

While the clubs sponsored the forum and have some influence on who gets the nod, they don’t have a final say on who the party’s candidate will be. That belongs to the Democratic Committee of New York County (Manhattan), and it is not the entire county that picks. The right to make the designation rests with the Democratic Committee members who actually reside in the 74th Assembly district.

It could not be learned from the Democratic Committee of New York County at press time precisely how many delegates will be voting, but sources estimate that it is somewhere close to 200 delegates.

The term of office will be truncated, because it will be only to fulfill the remaining time in the two-year term that ends at the end of 2026.

Governor Kathy Hochul has yet to set the date of the special elections in the state, but it is expected to be in February.

Down the road, the primary date for a full term has already been set for June 23, followed by the general election on Nov. 3, 2026.

Any of the four who do not get the official nod could run in the special election as independents or could contest the race again in the Democratic primary next June.

All the candidates have strong local bonafides. Batchu ran an effective ground game with a spirited group of volunteers and finished second to Epstein in the City Council primary. She promptly endorsed him. She is the daughter of immigrants and is married to a Venezuelan immigrant so migrant rights and ICE overreach are important parts of her campaign. She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. She was among the leaders in the unsuccessful bid to keep Beth Israel Hospital open and says she will push to bring a new hospital to the Lower East Side.

The Campaign Finance Board has not yet released data on money raised, but Batchu said she had received more than $72,000 in donations within a week of declaring for the seat; O’Keefe said he too has exceeded the matching-funds threshold.

Keith Powers, after serving as the local City Council member for eight years, probably has the best name recognition, especially in the Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper neighborhood, where he is a second-generation resident. He gained a lot of publicity for his bill to legalize bodega cats and has pushed for more e-bike safety laws and more city laws to take down long-standing scaffolding. He is seen as a moderate, and was part of a group of 15 Council members who resigned from the progressive caucus over objections to a plank looking to cut the police force. But unlike other East Side City Council members Julie Menin and Virginia Maloney (his successor), Powers endorsed Zohran Mamdani for mayor.

Marquis Jenkins grew up in Mariana Bracetti Plaza, the NYCHA development where he ran unsuccessfully for president of the residents association when he was only 17. Later he was an organizer with Good Old Lower East Side (GOLES), where he worked to educate and empower public housing residents. He has partnered with NYCHA tenant associations from across the city to form Residents to Preserve Public Housing, a growing coalition of public housing resident leaders.

Kevin O’Keefe was the first candidate in the race, kicking it off in September. He is the founder and president of the St. Vartan’s Conservancy, which thanks to his efforts is now an ADA-accessible park. O’Keefe was recently awarded the New York State Senate 2025 Commendation Award for his effective community advocacy. He is running for State Assembly to amplify everyday voices too often unjustly ignored or silenced. He is on the citizen’s advisory board of Bellevue Hospital and is a past member of Community Board 6. His pegged the three biggest issues in his campaign: addressing affordable housing, fixing the health care crisis and protecting the environment. He participated with Harvey Epstein and several others at a turkey giveaway at the Loisida Center on East Ninth Street on Nov. 24. Among those joining him at the giveaway were several potential rivals who are sitting out the special election derby but said they will contest the Assembly seat in the June primary, including Josh Arnon and Gabe Turzo.