The August 23 primary for New York's 10th Congressional district is suddenly shaping up to be one of the most contentious races in the country.
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday said he will run for Congress in the newly reconfigured district. Then over the weekend, Rep. Mondaire Jones, whose current 17th District seat takes in parts of Westchester and Rockland counties, shook everything up by saying he will run in the new 10th instead. Just hours later, Aseemblymember Yuh-Line Niou jumped into the race as well.
Meanwhile, state Sen. Brad Hoylman, who had declared a run in the district before any of of the others, backed out of the race and said he'd seek re-election to the state Senate instead.
New York's 10th District is currently represented by Rep. Jerry Nadler, but the state's political maps were redrawn under supervision of a New York judge after a court found they were unconstitutional and gerrymandered in favor of Democrats.
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The court last week unveiled new proposed maps that significantly changed a number of New York City-based districts. Nadler said he believed the maps were changed so much that they are also unconstitutional, but nonetheless signaled he would run in the new 12th District representing Manhattan.
The new 10th District takes in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Park Slope among others, as well as all of Manhattan below 11th Street.
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De Blasio toyed with running for governor this year before deciding to sit it out. He also had a short-lived run for president in 2019.
His two terms as mayor ended last year. He has been on a media tour of late, writing op-eds and giving interviews in which he frankly acknowledged how unpopular he was as mayor, and what he could have done differently.
Jones, a Harvard-educated attorney and former clerk to a federal judge, is currently in his first term in Congress, one of two openly gay Black members. Taiwan-born Niou has represented Chinatown and the Financial District in the state Assembly since 2016.
