Mayor sets special election date to fill Williams’ seat

Candidates lining up to run for City Council

March 25, 2019 Paula Katinas

Mayor Bill de Blasio signs the official proclamation designating May 14 as the date for the special election. Photo from NYCMayor/Twitter

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Activists, lawyers, architects and influencers are throwing their hats in the ring for the City Council seat recently vacated by Jumaane Williams, who officially took office as New York City public advocate last week.

Nine hopefuls, including Williams’ former deputy chief of staff, have announced plans to run for the open seat. Williams represented the 45th Council District, which includes Flatbush, East Flatbush, Canarsie and Midwood, for nine years.

Mayor Bill de Blasio set Tuesday, May 14, as the date for the special election, signing an official proclamation last week.

The winner of the May 14 contest will serve until the end of this year, and another election will take place in November. The winner of that contest will carry out the remainder of what would have been Williams’ term in the council, which expires in 2021.

Here are the candidates in alphabetical order:

Anthony Alexis, a former City Council staffer and supervisor of Brooklyn senior centers who ran for the seat unsuccessfully in 2001
Anthony Beckford, founder of Black Lives Matter Brooklyn
Monique Chandler-Waterman, a former Williams staffer and cofounder of the youth services nonprofit organization East Flatbush Village
Louis Cespedes Fernandez, an architect who challenged Williams in the Democratic Primary for the council seat in 2017 and lost
Farah Louis, Williams’ former deputy chief of staff
Jovia Radix, a lawyer and Brooklyn regional director for Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Xamayla Rose, founder of the Christopher Rose Community Empowerment Campaign, a nonprofit combating youth violence
Adina Sash, a community activist and Instagram influencer (known as FlatbushGirl)
L. Rickie Tulloch, senior director at NYC Health and Hospital and a Flatbush civic leader

Williams won a special election on Feb. 26 to replace former public advocate Letitia James, who won the election for New York State attorney general in November. He assumed his new role on March 19, after the election was certified and he resigned from the council.