Politics

Primary Day: Governor Races Are on the Ballot

Good morning. It’s Tuesday. We’ll look at the primaries in New York. And we’ll find out why the tick population is exploding in the Northeast.

Credit…Craig Ruttle/Associated Press

It’s Primary Day, the day for voters to decide the questions that have floated over months of speeches, debates and handshaking:

Will Gov. Kathy Hochul, a centrist Democrat who ascended to the state’s top job when Andrew Cuomo resigned amid a sexual harassment scandal, cruise to an easy victory? Will Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s endorsement boost Ana Maria Archila, who is running for lieutenant governor against Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado and Diana Reyna, a former City Council member?

And which of four Republicans will win their race?

Hochul is running against two challengers: Representative Thomas Suozzi of Long Island, who has focused on crime and taxes, and Jumaane Williams, New York City’s left-leaning public advocate.

On the Republican side, the candidates are Rob Astorino, a former Westchester County executive; Andrew Giuliani, a former special assistant to President Donald Trump and the son of former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani; Harry Wilson, a corporate turnaround specialist; and Representative Lee Zeldin of Long Island, a Trump ally who was endorsed by the state Republican Party on March 1.

If early balloting is any indication, voters are less than excited, certainly less than they were a year ago, when no statewide races were to be decided. The Board of Elections told me on Monday that 178,221 New Yorkers had voted early in the primary — 47,890 fewer than voted early in the primary a year ago.

The Supreme Court’s rulings on abortion and guns colored the final days of the primary campaign, with the three Democrats denouncing them. Hochul told potential voters at a campaign stop in Harlem on Monday that she was the protector of “the right to choose and the right to have sensitive gun safety legislation” in the wake of the rulings.

“I’m the one who can stand between us and chaos if a Republican ever sits in the statehouse in the governor’s seat,” she said.

In a state where abortion rights and gun control remain popular, the Republicans tried to redirect the conversation to other issues like inflation and crime rates. But abortion appeared to figure in an episode over the weekend: Rudolph Giuliani, who was campaigning for his son on Staten Island, said a grocery store worker slapped him on the back and told him, “You’re going to kill women, you’re going to kill women.” Giuliani said he took the remark to refer to the decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

The supermarket employee, Daniel Gill, 39, was charged with second-degree assault, a felony, but prosecutors reduced the charge to third-degree assault, a misdemeanor. Gill was also charged with menacing and harassment. The Legal Aid Society, which is representing him, said that he had merely patted Giuliani on the back.

A Guide to New York’s 2022 Primary Elections

As prominent Democratic officials seek to defend their records, Republicans see opportunities to make inroads in general election races.

  • Governor’s Race: Gov. Kathy Hochul is trying to fend off energetic challenges from two fellow Democrats, while the four-way G.O.P. contest has been playing in part like a referendum on Donald J. Trump.
  • Where the Candidates Stand: Ahead of the primaries for governor on June 28, our political reporters questioned the seven candidates on crime, taxes, abortion and more.
  • Maloney vs. Nadler: New congressional lines have put the two stalwart Manhattan Democrats — including New York City’s last remaining Jewish congressman — on a collision course in the Aug. 23 primary.
  • 15 Democrats, 1 Seat: A newly redrawn House district in New York City may be one of the largest and most freewheeling primaries in the nation.
  • Offensive Remarks: Carl P. Paladino, a Republican running for a House seat in Western New York, recently drew backlash for praising Adolf Hitler in an interview dating back to 2021.

Among the Democrats, Hochul holds a commanding lead in the polls and in fund-raising. She had collected roughly $34 million on political donations as of last week and is aiming to take in a total of $50 million to $70 million by Election Day, according to three Democrats familiar with her plans.


Weather

Enjoy a mostly sunny day with a high near the low 80s. The evening will be cooler with temperatures in the mid-60s.

ALTERNATE-SIDE PARKING

In effect until July 4 (Independence Day).


The latest Metro news

Credit…Andrew Seng for The New York Times

Politics

  • Noncitizen voting law: A law that would have allowed noncitizens to vote in local elections in New York City was struck down by a State Supreme Court justice in Staten Island.

  • Falconry: In Ocean City, N.J., the war between humans and gulls reached a turning point when the ancient art of falconry was introduced to help clear the area’s boardwalk.

Arts & Culture

  • The Arconia: Viewers of the Hulu series “Only Murders in the Building” know it as the Arconia, but the Upper West Side building has a name — and a dramatic story — of its own.

  • I.P.A.s and wrestling: The Brooklyn wrestler Casanova Valentine was hired by Other Half Brewing. He saw an opportunity to mix his passion with his workplace: Wouldn’t a beer festival be more exciting with wrestling?


We’re all tick bait

Credit…Kate Warren for The New York Times

They’re out for blood — yours, if you head into the woods or across a meadow on a pleasant summer day. We’re talking ticks, those tiny, seemingly primitive parasitic insects that can ruin a relaxing walk. Climate change and other factors have brought several new species to New York in recent years. I had questions for my colleague Jesse McKinley after he went tick hunting in upstate New York with Brian Leydet, an assistant professor of epidemiology and disease ecology at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse.

Let’s start with how you reported this story. Leydet wore a white outfit that looks something like a hazmat suit. Did he lend you one like that?

Unfortunately, no. And I was badly dressed, at least in tick-hunting terms: Experts say you should wear light-colored clothing. I was in a dark pair of jeans, a brown overcoat and a pair of black tennis shoes. I had no tick repellent on, and — unlike Leydet — had neglected to bring duct tape, which he uses to tape his tube socks to his pant leg. In sum, I felt exposed.

New York has long been a hot zone for ticks, but you wrote that new varieties are crowding in. What are some of them, why are they a concern and where are they showing up?

There’s a bunch of newcomers that have been found in New York and elsewhere in the Northeast in recent years, some of which are just nasty. That includes the Asian long-horned tick, which is able to reproduce parthenogenically — no male required — and has been known to bleed livestock to death by attacking en masse. There’s also the Lone Star tick, so named because the females have a spot on their back (though they are also found in Texas), and the Gulf Coast tick, which has been found on Staten Island, far from its traditional Gulf Coast habitat.

And more ticks means more tick-borne illnesses, right?

Oh, yes. Even though Covid is putting a crimp in tick collection efforts, the consensus is that clinicians in New York are seeing more cases of diseases like anaplasmosis and babesiosis, both of which can cause serious illnesses if they are not caught early enough (but can be easily treated if they are). Ticks also carry a variety of fevers, spotted and otherwise.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists more than a dozen diseases, including really frightening ones like Powassan virus, which can cause encephalitis or meningitis. It’s a double-barreled threat, simultaneously very fast to contract (in as little as 15 minutes) and fatal in more than 10 percent of cases where the patient becomes symptomatic.

But there are “safety measures.” What are they?

Well, as I mentioned earlier, wearing a dark overcoat while tick hunting isn’t one of them. Light-colored clothing is definitely a good idea, as it makes it easier to see the little arachnids on you. (With eight legs, ticks are closer to spiders than ants.)

When you’re in prime tick territory — grassy meadows, forest edges and trails — you should check yourself frequently because the Powassan can be transmitted pretty quickly.

Several of my friends carry tick removal tools that are the size of their keys to pry them off, though a quick pair of fingers works well, too. And make sure to check your pets: Ticks love dogs, who, of course, love running around in the exact type of terrain where ticks live.

One last question. After your excursion with Leydet, how many ticks did you find on yourself?

I found one on my jean leg after I got back in my car, but I have to say that I imagined dozens more crawling on me for days after. I think that’s part of the creepy, crawly-ness of ticks: You tend to feel they are everywhere after you become aware of them. And as my reporting showed, they actually kind of are.


METROPOLITAN diary

At attention

Dear Diary:

It was December 1967. I had just finished basic training at Fort Dix in New Jersey and was traveling to Boston in uniform. For reasons I no longer recall, I stopped in New York City on the way.

Walking on the Upper East Side in a snowstorm, I spied another man in a uniform. He was older, and his cap bore the familiar gold band that identified him as an officer.

I rendered a snappy salute. It was not returned. The uniform was unfamiliar, so I guessed he was a foreign officer. Military courtesy still required me to salute.

A little farther down the street, I encountered another officer and offered another salute that went unacknowledged. His uniform was strange to me as well.

The third time it happened, the man I saluted ignored me while holding the door for a couple on their way into a large apartment building.

I realized I had been saluting doormen.

Stephen Salisbury

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Send submissions here and read more Metropolitan Diary here.


Glad we could get together here. See you tomorrow. — J.B.

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.

Melissa Guerrero, Ashley Shannon Wu and Ed Shanahan contributed to New York Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].

.

Related Articles

Back to top button