Looking Back on June: Parkside employees receive recognition, primary election analysis, and more!
Parkside was thrilled to be part of many historic victories on primary day across New York State.
In NYC, we supported, through independent expenditures, the successful City Council campaigns of Virginia Maloney, Elsie Encarnacion, and Shanel Thomas Henry, and worked directly with Justin Sanchez in the Bronx and Kamillah Hanks on Staten Island on their wins.
Upstate, history was made as Dorcey Applyrs and Sharon Owens became the first Black women elected mayors of Albany and Syracuse. We were honored to play a role in these groundbreaking wins.
In Buffalo, we partnered with labor to help elect Sean Ryan as mayor, marking another significant step forward for New York Democrats.
Evan Stavisky, Founding Partner & President, was recognized on the City & State 2025 Albany Power 100 List.
Partner Paul Thomas was recognized on the City & State 2025 Bronx Power 100 List.
Evan Stavisky, Founding Partner, and Dan Katz, Executive Vice President & General Counsel, were recognized on City & State 2025 Casino & Sports Betting Trailblazers.
VP of Operations & Growth Alex Elmasri joined David Lombardo on Capital Pressroom to discuss the mayoral races in Buffalo, Albany, and Syracuse.
CLIENT NEWS
The Parkside team helped pass legislation to create a New York amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patient registry. If signed into law, the registry would help patient services organizations, such as our client ALS United Greater New York, better direct their services and resources. It would aid epidemiologists in researching environmental and other factors that may cause ALS.
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What Does Mamdani’s Win Tell Us About the Future of NYC Politics?
One question many observers were asking going into the primary was whether Mamdani’s enthusiastic base of educated voters would be enough to propel him to victory in a diverse primary across five boroughs. The answer, it turned out, was yes – but also that his support was much broader than that. Mamdani turned out younger primary voters in unprecedented numbers. But he was also competitive in traditionally moderate communities like Howard Beach, Maspeth, and Sheepshead Bay. He won Asian voters in Flushing and Latino voters in Sunset Park. Like every major upset victory, his win heralds a new coalition: one that is seemingly built on the common concern about the cost of living in this city and a desire for profound change rather than any particular ethnic or dynastic allegiance.
A lesson we are relearning in the wake of another Trump victory is that a concrete message of change wins out over one that preys on voters’ fears or falls back on ‘experience’ without an articulated vision. This was true in the mayoral primary, and it was true in the City Council, where negative campaigns against incumbents flopped and young, optimistic, and talented people won open seats. This wasn’t an anti-incumbent election in any sense, but it was a strong rejection of complacent or cynical politics that certain entrenched elements in the party have a tendency to deploy.
Putting aside any questions of ideology, it is probably not a bad sign for the Democratic Party when, in the wake of a brutal loss of federal power, voters are turning over the soil and searching for new answers instead of retreating to the familiar. It is dizzying for everyone to try and tell the difference between reality and social media, and these results won’t make it any easier – but voters of nearly all stripes within the party couldn’t have been any clearer that they want to see Democrats find a new direction. Whether Mamdani’s brand of politics is ascendent, or whether he simply executed an extremely good campaign against a flawed opponent, remains to be seen. How he actually governs may hold the answer.
-Spencer Lee, Parkside Managing Director
Are Coalitions the New Key to Winning Upstate?
While much of the attention was on the New York City mayoral field, Upstate New York quietly made history.
For the first time, major upstate cities, Albany, Syracuse, and Buffalo, held truly competitive mayoral primaries that reshaped the region’s political landscape. And the results were nothing short of historic.
In Albany, Dorcey Applyrs emerged victorious, becoming the first Black woman ever elected mayor of the city. Syracuse voters elected Sharon Owens, making her the first Black woman to lead that city as well. These dual wins mark a cultural shift in cities that entrenched political machines and families have long dominated. In Buffalo, State Senator Sean Ryan won a hard-fought race, reflecting a broader appetite for seasoned, progressive leadership.
These results underscore a growing trend in Upstate New York, where Democratic primaries are no longer the product of party politics, but victories are born out of coalitions between progressives, labor, and local community leaders.
-Alex Elmasri, Parkside VP of Operations & Growth
