Judge Hector LaSalle at his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Jan. 18, 2022. Sam Mellins / New York Focus This story was published in partnership with New York Focus, an independent, investigative news site covering New York state and city politics. Sign up for their newsletter here. Gov. Kathy Hochul’s first nominee for chief judge of New York’s highest court may be dead in the water. On Wednesday afternoon, after a marathon five-hour hearing, the state Senate’s judiciary committee decided by a single-vote margin not to recommend Judge Hector LaSalle for confirmation. LaSalle ..read more

Hiram Alejandro Durán/THE CITY A federal judge on Monday tossed out three bribery and fraud charges in the government’s case against former Lt. Gov. Brian Benjamin, citing lack of evidence to prove a “quid pro quo” with a major donor to Benjamin’s political campaigns. The prosecution will continue on two lesser charges alleging falsification of records.  THE CITY first brought to light campaign donations made in the names of people who say they had no idea they’d donated, which were submitted by a Benjamin associate who has already pleaded guilty to federal bribery and fraud charges. H ..read more

The exterior of the former Water’s Edge restaurant, located on a derelict barge on the Long Island City waterfront, Nov. 22, 2022. Hiram Alejandro Durán/THE CITY It’s not the site of the old Hotel Metropole on W. 43rd St. where Herman “Beansie” Rosenthal was gunned down in 1912 by Leftie Louie and Gyp the Blood for squealing to the newspapers about a corrupt ring of city cops led by the most corrupt cop of all, Charles Becker. It’s not the section of Van Cortlandt Park near the Mosholu Golf Course where Vivian Gordon was found fatally strangled in 1931 shortly after speaking to an anti-co ..read more

Small businessman Zulfiqar Ali was appointed to a Brooklyn political committee without his knowledge, Nov. 17, 2022. George Joseph/THE CITY At least ten people living in Brooklyn’s Little Pakistan neighborhood were appointed to obscure but meaningful positions within the borough’s Democratic Party organization without their knowledge in October, an investigation by THE CITY has found. The irregular appointments were for the “county committee,” a body of neighborhood representatives across the borough who vote on the party’s rules and its nominees for special elections in deliberations tha ..read more

Local Democratic leaders attended the Somos conference Puerto Rico. Katie Honan/THE CITY SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — Even as Tuesday’s election ballots were still being counted, most of the City Council’s 51 members flew down to Puerto Rico for an annual political conference — with an eye on their own campaigns coming up in just a few months.  In between pool parties and piña coladas, of course.  The short turnaround is thanks to this year’s once-a-decade redistricting process. It means Council members elected in 2021 have a truncated 2-year term before another election in newly-dra ..read more

Lee Zeldin volunteers hold a giant banner urging people to vote in Sunset Park. Photo Courtesy of Lily Wu The red wave that fell short nationally and statewide engulfed Democrats in south Brooklyn on Tuesday, with Republicans close to claiming multiple seats in the state Senate and Assembly. Even as Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, beat Republican Lee Zeldin in Brooklyn by 42 points, she lost in Bensonhurst, a neighborhood that Andrew Cuomo won handily four years ago, by 32 points — a 54 point swing. To the east in Homecrest, Hochul lost by 57 points, four years after Cuomo lost it by just ..read more

Then-Congressmember Max Rose, March 24, 2019. Malgosia S/Shutterstock Max Rose suffered a crushing defeat on Tuesday in a rematch against incumbent Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn), losing New York’s 11th congressional district by 24 points, compared to just 6 points in 2020.  But a data analysis conducted by THE CITY shows that if the New York State Court of Appeals hadn’t overturned the proposed congressional boundaries drawn by the Democratic-controlled state legislature earlier this year, Rose might have won the district by almost 4,000 votes, giving the seat to ..read more

An absentee ballot box at an early voting site at Hudson Yards. Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY New York City voters approved four ballot measures this year, approving new funding for statewide environmental projects and three local proposals aimed at boosting racial equity in the five boroughs. By a wide margin, voters in the city and across the state approved the Environmental Bond Act — Proposal 1 on this year’s ballot — which gives the go-ahead for the state to borrow $4.2 billion to pay for a number of projects to protect New York from more extreme weather due to climate change. It includes ..read more

Gov. Kathy Hochul campaigns on Election Day in Downtown Brooklyn, Nov. 8, 2022. Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY Gov. Kathy Hochul fought off a challenge from Republican Lee Zeldin on Tuesday, although her opponent refused to concede. Shortly after 11 p.m., with a little more than 50% of the statewide vote counted, both NBC News and ABC News called the race for Hochul and her running mate Antonio Delgado.  Hochul then declared victory, tweeting “I’m deeply honored to be elected Governor of the State of New York.” “Tonight, you made your voices heard loud and clear, and you made me the first ..read more

Governor Kathy Hochul at the Jacob Javits Center in March 2022. Ben Fractenberg/THE CITY With Gov. Kathy Hochul facing an unexpectedly competitive challenge from U.S. Rep. Lee Zeldin of Long Island, the incumbent is getting a jolt of support from the family that owns Madison Square Garden — and that benefits from a unique tax break estimated to be worth $43 million a year. State campaign finance records show the Coalition to Restore New York, a political committee founded by James Dolan of Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp., spent $560,000 last week on television, digital and ..read more