Jamaicans on the ballot for New York City 2025 elections

NEW YORK:

A number of Jamaicans have made the ballot in New York City to contest the Democratic Party’s primary.

Among them are Michael Blake, who is running for the position of mayor, Lawman Lynch who is running for the city council and Selvena Brooks-Powers who is seeking re-election to her county seat in Queens, New York.

Other Jamaicans running for political office this year are; Winsome Earle- Sears who is running for governor of the state of Virginia and Sean Spiller who is running for the post of governor of New Jersey.

The New York primary elections are set for June 24 while primary elections in Virginia are June 17 and New Jersey primary elections are June 10.

The winners will go the general elections to be held in November 4, 2025.

Lynch, who is seeking to become the first Jamaica-born male to sit in the New York City council, is running in the 41st councilmatic district in Brooklyn.

Selvena Brooks- Powers is seeking to keep her council seat in the 31 councilmatic district in Queens.

Should Blake win the mayoral race, he would become the first Jamaican to serve as mayor of New York City.

But the road to victory for the candidates with Jamaican roots is not an easy one.

In the case of Lynch, he has several others seeking the seat, including the incumbent Marlene Mealy.

Blake also will go up against candidates including former governor Andrew Cuomo, and the sitting mayor Eric Adams who is running as an independent. Spiller, the current mayor of Montclair, is also in a crowded field in his quest to win the primary and go to the general elections where he would face off against a Republican opponent.

Earle-Sears has only one person running against her in the primary as she seeks to win the Republican party primary. She is currently Lt Governor of Virginia and has been endorsed by the current governor who cannot run for re-election.

Should she win the November elections she would be the first woman, and first Jamaican woman to win the governorship of a state in the United States.

In making the ballot Lynch thanked the many supporters who went door to door to collect the needed signatures.

“We’ve officially qualified for the ballot in the Democratic Primary for NYC’s 41st City Council District! Thanks to your support and our incredible grassroots team, we collected nearly three times the number of signatures required to get on the ballot.

Our campaign is sending shock waves through New York’s political establishment. They never expected a young refugee, running for office for the first time, to keep up with the establishment incumbent. We continue to prove them wrong and we’re just getting started.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for believing in me and the movement we’re building. This campaign belongs to all of us, and together, we’re going to win,” he said.

District 41 covers a series of predominantly Black neighbourhoods in central and eastern Brooklyn, including parts of Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brownsville, East Flatbush, Crown Heights, and Ocean Hill

As of the 2010 Census, the district was over 80 per cent black, making it the district with the largest black population in the city.

It cuts across the Congressional districts currently represented by Jamaican Yvette Clarke and Harken Jefferies.

Lynch was born in Woodford Park, Kingston, and attended the Salvation Army Basic School, Alpha Infant School, Jessie Ripoll Primary School and later Wolmer’s Boys’ School.

He also attended The University of the West Indies but did not complete his studies there, migrating to the United States in 2010.

Eddie Edwards, who is Jamaica-born, recently ran to become city commissioner in the city of Miramar, Florida and won the special election which allows him to complete the current term which has two years remaining.

If Spiller and Earle-Sears are successful in their campaign they would join the governor of Maryland, Wes Moore, as governors in the United States, with Jamaican roots.