NYC Primary Election Update

Teachers for Choice Endorsements - who won and who lost?

In one of the most shocking elections in NYC history, everyone now knows Zohran Mamdani defeated Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic Primary for Mayor. This news sent shockwaves across the nation, deeply penetrating the national news cycle.

The aftermath of the primary seems to be unfolding just as we predicted 2 weeks ago if Mamdani were to win (scroll to end of report) as the race for mayor is now sizing up to be a 4-man-race. Support for Cuomo, who still has an independent ballot line for the general election, is drying up fast. It seems highly unlikely that Cuomo has any real viable path forward. It also appears Mayor Eric Adams may be a viable candidate again, but only time will tell.

Republican nominee Curtis Sliwa’s campaign is now in full swing, and Jim Walden just released his first commercial running as an independent for Mayor in the general election.

Below are updates on Teachers for Choice endorsements in other NYC primary races

Inna Vernikov Wins!

Congratulations to Inna Vernikov who won her Republican Primary election in Brooklyn, District 48. She is now the official Republican nominee and is highly likely to win the general election in November, returning back to her City Hall seat. Teachers for Choice is honored and proud to have endorsed her in this race.

Unorthodox Endorsement

We endorsed Brad Hoylman for Manhattan Borough President, and he won. This is great because it means Hoylman will NOT BE RETUNRING to his senate seat in Albany. This is important because Hoylman is Big Pharma’s #1 puppet.

Every resident of New York should appreciate this because now Hoylman will no longer be able to make or change public health law in his new position - good riddance!

Our endorsement was obviously unorthodox as we do not support Hoylman at all, but we do support getting him out of Albany because that is where almost all medical law is drafted and passed in our state. Holyman was the #1 Senate sponsor for new vaccine mandates and vaccine initiatives in Albany, and since he will no longer be there in 2026, all of his bills die.

Phil Wong - no clear winner

In Queens District 30, Teachers for Choice endorsed Phil Wong, who is currently in the lead by 4 points but the race has not been decided yet. The great news is that the UFT candidate running against Wong - Dermot Smyth - has lost and is officially out of the race. Paul Pogozelski is still in second place, which means the race has to go through the rank choice voting process and we won’t know the winner until July 1st. It is unlikely that the rank rounds will have a major impact in this particular race, but we shall see.

Rich Barsamian

In Brooklyn District 47, Teachers for Choice endorsed Rich Barsamian. He was behind in the vote count by approximately 30 votes on election night, but after a recount that took one week to complete Barsamian lost the race by approximately 50 votes. The winner of the race is George Sarantopoulos as reported by Brooklyn Paper. We congratulate George and look forward to meeting with him. Reliable sources tell us he supports reinstating and compensating fired unvaccinated NYC workers.

Julie Milner

Unfortunately Julie Milner lost her judicial race. However, she obtained over 14,600 votes! That’s nearly 42% of the total votes cast. Very impressive numbers! Teachers for Choice hopes to see Milner run for office again, as she is clearly a viable candidate. She was also one of only two Democrats to be endorsed by City Councilman Bob Holden, an elected official who we admire and respect greatly.

We will post more updates as more winners are officially declared.