Plugged In @ Hinman Straub

June 27, 2025

What’s Inside

2025 Primary Elections in New York State
NYS Attorney General Sues Trump Administration Over Cuts to Essential Services Funding
NYS Attorney General Proposes Police Vehicle Pursuit Reforms
Governor Releases Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Micron Investment
Governor Announces Funding to Launch Empire AI Beta Supercomputer
Stefanik Set to Run for New York Governor
Gonzalez-Rojas Rumored to be Considering Challenge to State Senator Jessica Ramos
In the News
Coming Up

2025 Primary Elections in New York State

The 2025 primary elections took place on Tuesday, June 24, with polls closing at 9:00 p.m. This year’s primary elections across New York State centered on high-profile Democratic mayoral contests in the state’s largest cities: Albany, Buffalo, New York City, Rochester, and Syracuse. Below is a summary of the most closely watched and competitive races.

New York City Mayor

Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani is poised to defeat former Governor Andrew Cuomo after the first round of ranked-choice voting in the Democratic Primary for New York City Mayor. With 93% of precincts reporting, Mamdani received 43.5% of the vote and Cuomo received 36.3%. Cuomo conceded the race shortly before 10:30 p.m.

New York City utilizes Ranked Choice Voting, where voters can rank up to five candidates in order of preference. If no candidate earns more than 50% of first-choice votes, then counting will continue in subsequent rounds. At the end of each round, the last-place candidate is eliminated, and voters who chose that candidate now have their vote counted for their next choice.

The full breakdown of ranked-choice voting will likely be unavailable until July 1. According to reports, Governor Cuomo is expected to continue his campaign on his independent “Fight and Deliver” ballot line.

New York City Public Advocate

Incumbent Public Advocate Jumaane Williams is the projected winner in the Democratic primary for public advocate. With more than 91.2% of the expected vote tallied, Williams has 71.2% of votes, while Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar had 18.8% of votes and Martin Dolan had 9.4%.

New York City Comptroller

Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine currently leads with 48% of the vote, with Brooklyn City Council Member Justin Brannan at 33.6%.

Manhattan Borough President

State Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal has won in the race for Manhattan Borough President against City Council Member Keith Powers.

Upstate Mayoral Races

Albany

In a crowded race, Albany Chief City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs has won the Democratic Primary defeating Common Council President Corey Ellis, Albany County Legislator Carolyn McLaughlin, and business executive Dan Cerutti.

Buffalo

State Senator Sean Ryan has declared victory over Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon 46% to 36%.

Rochester

Mayor Malik Evans has defeated his two primary opponents, Rochester City Councilmember Mary Lupien and Shashi Sinha.

Syracuse

Syracuse Deputy Mayor Sharon Owens will be the Democratic candidate for the next Mayor of Syracuse, defeating Syracuse Common Councilors, Patrick Hogan and Chol Majok.

NYS Attorney General Sues Trump Administration Over Cuts to Essential Services Funding

This week, New York Attorney General Letitia James co-led a coalition of 21 other attorneys general in suing the Trump administration challenging its claim that it has limitless authority to cut grant funds that support essential services throughout the country.

According to the Attorney General, Since January, the Trump administration has used a single clause buried in the regulations of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that states federal agencies can terminate a grant if it “no longer effectuates the program goals or agency priorities,” to cancel billions of dollars of funding to states. These grants support programs to combat violent crime, educate students with special needs, protect clean drinking water, repair crumbling infrastructure, and more.

Attorney General James and the coalition argue that the Trump administration is using this clause unlawfully to enact mass funding cuts – even when Congress has specifically directed spending on a particular program. In a lawsuit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, Attorney General James and the coalition are seeking a judgment from the court ruling that the administration cannot cut grant funding in this way.

Attorney General James said:

From slashing money for law enforcement to cutting grants that provide resources for vulnerable students, this administration’s reckless funding cuts have put communities throughout our country at risk. On top of causing dangerous chaos and confusion, these cuts are simply illegal. Congress has the power of the purse, and the president cannot cut billions of dollars of essential resources simply because he doesn’t like the programs being funded.

More information can be found in the Attorney General’s press release here.

NYS Attorney General Proposes Police Vehicle Pursuit Reforms

New York Attorney General James has released a report on police vehicle pursuits, which reviews and analyzes available data showing how police vehicle pursuits harm New Yorkers, what other jurisdictions are doing to address police pursuits, and makes recommendations for reform. The report titled “Improving Policing and Public Safety: Problems Presented by Police and Vehicle Pursuits” can be read here.

The report finds that some of the most extreme harm to New Yorkers happens when routine traffic stops escalate into pursuits or high-speed police chases. Data in the report also found that from 1996 to 2015, an average of 355 people – nearly one person per day – were killed annually in pursuit-related crashes. The report also reviewed several examples of police vehicle pursuits in New York that put both drivers and police officers in danger and led to civilian fatalities.

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) has now recommended that New York implement statewide reforms including:

Pass legislation to increase transparency. New York law enforcement agencies should be required to track and publish data about traffic pursuits and high-speed chases to improve public accountability, evaluate agency performance, and help oversight agencies protect civil liberties and civil rights. This data collection should be facilitated by a centralized agency such as the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).

Ban high-speed police pursuits with narrow exceptions. Though high-speed chases can be deadly, OAG recognizes they may be necessary when a serious or violent felony has been or will be committed or when the driver’s conduct poses an imminent threat of death to themselves, bystanders, or police officers. Narrow exceptions for use of high-speed police pursuits would eliminate police chases that risk harming drivers, passengers, bystanders, and officers.

Attorney General James said:

Millions of New Yorkers take to the roads each day, and they deserve policing and traffic enforcement that is safe, fair, and effective. The evidence is clear: police vehicle pursuits and high-speed car chases can be dangerous and even fatal, and it is time for a change. We are proposing these reforms to improve public safety for everyone on the road – drivers, passengers, and law enforcement.

More information can be found here.

Governor Releases Draft Environmental Impact Statement on Micron Investment

Governor Hochul’s office has released the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on the Micron project in Central New York, marking a major step forward. The document jointly prepared by the Onondaga County Industrial Development Agency, the US Commerce Department and Micron, discusses the historic nature and transformative impact of Micron’s plan to invest up to $100 billion and support the creation of nearly 50,000 jobs over the next 20-plus years and will include the nation’s largest clean room space at approximately 2.4 million square feet.

Micron will work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, expand water restoration, reuse, and recycling efforts and target carbon-free energy, in an effort to align with New York’s goal of achieving a clean energy economy. Over the next 45 days, the public will be able to comment on the findings in the DEIS. Within the comment period, an in-person public hearing will be held on July 24 at Liverpool High School. The comment period closes on August 11. Instructions on how to comment are available on the Onondaga County Office of Economic Development website.

Governor Hochul said:

We’re transforming Upstate New York’s economy one microchip at a time. This marks a major milestone in Micron’s commitment to New York, showing how economic growth and environmental protection go hand-in-hand. This project is set to transform Central New York — and we’re moving full speed ahead.

More information on the Micron project can be found here.

Governor Announces Funding to Launch Empire AI Beta Supercomputer

Governor Hochul has announced that the Empire State Development (ESD) Board approved $40 million to launch Empire AI Beta, the second phase of the supercomputer powering New York’s Empire AI initiative.

Empire AI Beta will be 11 times more powerful than current capacity, allowing hundreds of researchers from the now 10 member institutions to continue to advance AI research for public good. Empire AI is now backed by over $500 million in public and private funding, including up to $340 million in state capital funding secured by Governor Hochul.

The funding approved by ESD this week will allow the Empire AI consortium to purchase the equipment needed to power the second-phase supercomputer, housed at the University of Buffalo. Empire AI Beta will use NVIDIA’s state-of-the-art Blackwell AI supercomputing platform. The new Beta system will dramatically accelerate Empire AI’s computing performance from the current Alpha system: 11-fold in AI training, 40-fold in AI inference, and an 8-fold increase in data storage. Empire AI Beta is also expected to be among the first academic deployments of NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD with DGX GB200 systems.

Learn more here.

Stefanik Set to Run for New York Governor

According to multiple reports, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) is preparing to officially launch her campaign for New York governor, though her exact timetable for announcing is unknown. Speculation on her eventual run has swirled for months.

A poll conducted by GrayHouse found that Stefanik has a commanding lead in a hypothetical primary over fellow Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who is considering a run, 44 percent to 7 percent among GOP primary voters. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman secured 5 percent support. The margin of error is 5 percentage points.

The party made gains in New York, which is considered a reliably blue state, in the last two elections. Trump lost the state by just more than 12 points last year, improving on his 2020 margin of 23 points. Hochul, who stepped into her role as governor in 2021, defeated Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin by roughly 6 points.

A source familiar with her thinking said that “millions and millions of dollars” in donations from Republicans and Democrats have been pledged to her eventual campaign in the wake of Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani’s win in the New York City Democratic mayoral primary.

Republicans have already tried to use Mamdani’s win on Tuesday as a cudgel against Democrats in New York and across the country, owing to his democratic socialist politics and fierce criticism of Israel.

Gonzalez-Rojas Rumored to be Considering Challenge to State Senator Jessica Ramos

According to reports from City & State New York, Assembly Member Jessica González-Rojas, whose Assembly District 34 overlaps with Mayoral Candidate (and Cuomo endorser) Jessica Ramos’ Senate district, is now being actively recruited to challenge Ramos next year.

Ramos spent much of her mayoral campaign harshly criticizing Cuomo and was part of the anti-Cuomo slate known as “Don’t Rank Evil Andrew for Mayor” until she surprised supporters by endorsing Cuomo on June 6. Despite Ramos’ endorsement of Cuomo, her Senate district voted for mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani over Cuomo, 51% to 35% in the first round of ranked choice voting.