With less than 70 days until New York City’s general election, elected officials, organizers and Central Brooklyn residents packed into the New York Democrats’ new office location in Prospect Lefferts Gardens.
Joined by Congresswoman Yvette Clarke and District 40 Councilmember Rita Joseph, NY Democrats celebrated their endorsement of Adrienne Adams for Lieutenant Governor alongside the re-election of Governor Kathy Hochul.
“We need Democrats to run this city,” Councilmember Joseph told BK Reader. “We need women to lead the city because we lead different in the state,” she said.
Although Adams is not new to politics, many of her supporters are. Jackie Smiley, president of The Brooklyn Young Democrats and former resident of East Flatbush, spoke of the importance of mobilizing young people for this election. “It’s our time, right?” she said.
According to Smiley, young people are seeing that if mobilized, they can achieve what they put their minds to.
During the event, Adams — having served as both a councilmember and the speaker of the City Council until 2025 — spoke openly about how she did not expect to return to politics this year. Her decision came after a meeting with Hochul, when the governor personally asked her to be her lieutenant governor.
“The moment in time stood still for me,” Adams said. “In that moment, I knew that it was not mine to question. It was mine to accept and move on. So I said, ‘Kathy, let’s go.’”
Having served in the House of Representatives since 2007, Congresswoman Yvette Clark spoke to the crowd about this general election being larger than just the state of New York.
“There’s so much going on in Washington and beyond that, quite frankly, freaks us all out,” Clarke said. “The work that we must do over the next 69 days is democracy building. It’s strengthening our people.”
Despite her similar disapproval of much of the leadership in Washington, Adams ended her speech with a message of hope for New York Democrats.
“America’s always been great because I stand on the soil and my blood is in the bricks in Washington,” she said. “I can tell you and everybody in this room how important and how great America always has been and will continue to be, because we are the ones that make America great.”
City & State New York describes Hochul as the “clear front runner” in the race against Republican candidate Bruce Blakeman. Prediction markets give her an approximate 87 percent chance to hold the seat.
New York is one of 26 states that elects the governor and lieutenant governor on a joint ticket, meaning that a re-election of Hochul will mean an automatic win for Adams.
NY Democrats will continue their work in a “Weekend of Action” this Saturday and Sunday, where volunteers will be knocking on doors across the state to endorse Democratic candidates, including several Brooklyn neighborhoods.
More information about the upcoming general election and registration deadlines can be found on the New York State Board of Elections website.
