Though not exactly beloved by New Yorkers, Bill de Blasio was mayor for eight years and a resident of Park Slope even longer, so one might have expected him to be a front-runner in a race for Congress representing his Brooklyn home. Yet he is trailing most of the Democratic field in New York’s Tenth Congressional District, according to several recent polls.
A Data for Progress survey, published by City & State on Thursday, shows City Councilmember Carlina Rivera leading the candidates running to represent parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn with 17 percent support. She is followed by State Assemblymember Yuh-Line Niou, with 14 percent, and Daniel Goldman, the former federal prosecutor and lead attorney for Donald Trump’s first impeachment, with 12 percent.
Behind them are former congresswoman Elizabeth Holtzman with 9 percent, State Assemblymember Jo Anne Simon with 8 percent, and Mondaire Jones, the congressman from the 17th District who moved following redistricting, with 7 percent. As for de Blasio? He received 5 percent, just ahead of the Maud Maron, a former public defender, who came in last in the poll with 1 percent.
Sean McElwee, the executive director for Data for Progress, told City & State that the race is in flux. “There’s a lot more public communications to be happening, but I think there’s a clear set of front-runners … Carlina, Yuh-Line, Goldman, all have credible paths there,” he said, noting that Jones could also go further in the race.
However, it appears there is still room for growth before the August 23 primary: 27 percent of voters who were surveyed said that they were unsure of whom they would vote for in the race. The poll surveyed 533 likely Democratic voters that live in the district and was conducted July 7–10.
On Monday, the Working Families Party released an internal poll of the race which seemed to echo the survey from Data for Progress. In this poll, Rivera was now tied for first with Niou, whom the party endorsed, with 16 percent followed by Goldman with 10 percent. Jones received 8 percent followed by Simon with 6 percent, Holtzman with 4 percent and then de Blasio with 3 percent.
From July 1-11, the party surveyed 636 likely Democratic voters that live in the 10th district. 40 percent of those voters said they were undecided.
