Activist Launches Independent Run For UES State Assembly Seat

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — An Upper East Side activist and community organizer is gathering petitions for an independent run at a neighborhood State Assembly seat that will have no Democratic nominee in the upcoming election.

Patrick Bobilin was inspired to launch a campaign for the New York's 76th State Assembly District — which spans Roosevelt Island and east of Third Avenue on the Upper East Side — when incumbent Rebecca Seawright was removed from the ballot for filing petitions for the Democratic and Working Families parties past deadline.

"I've collected signatures and petitioned to help get Rebecca Seawright on the ballot before, she's a pretty good person but when I realized after the primaries that we weren't going to have a Democrat on the ballot and Republican might win this district simply by default, I was really upset by that," Bobilin told Patch.

Bobilin emphasized that his run isn't just about the Seawright's ouster from the ballot, as the incumbent lawmaker is planning an independent run of her own. Bobilin sees the need for new leadership in the state legislature to deal with what he calls "four simultaneous crises" afflicting New York: A healthcare crisis caused by the novel coronavirus, a climate crisis, an eviction crisis and a civil rights and social justice crisis in the wake of a call for systemic change in how to police New York's communities.

"I felt that we needed new leadership from the people who presided over the district, the people who got us into these problems can't get us out of these problems," Bobilin said.

The activist, who most recently helped organize nightly vigils at Gracie Mansion following the police killing of Minneapolis Man George Floyd, told Patch that he fears New York's current political coronavirus reopening plan is prioritizing the economy over New Yorkers' health and safety. Bobilin is advocating for policies such as commercial and residential rent freezes that would prevent working-class New Yorkers from having to risk their health to go to work and a "system of Medicare for all New Yorkers." Bobilin, a former public school teacher, is also in favor of abolishing the presence of police in the city's school system.

Bobilin identified safer alternative transportation and the proliferation of vacant storefronts as two issues of importance specific to the Upper East Side. New Yorkers weary of the subway system will take to bikes, scooters or other modes of transportation to get around as the city reopens. The Upper East Side needs more infrastructure, clear signage and better education on the rules of the road to keep both pedestrians and cyclists safe, Bobilin said.

This isn't Bobilin's first time running for elected office on the Upper East Side. The activist challenged City Councilman Ben Kallos in the Democratic primary for City Council in 2017, coming in third place in the primary. Previous experience running for office has made it easy for Bobilin to find "dozens" of volunteers to help him get the required petition signatures to launch an independent run, he said. It's a bit tougher to organize due to social distancing measures, but Bobilin's volunteers are all equipped with PPE, hand sanitizer and cleaning supplies to make petitioning as safe as possible.

Incumbent Rebecca Seawright also plans to run for the assembly seat as an incumbent following Republican challenger Louis Puliafito's successful lawsuit to have her removed from the ballot. Bobilin isn't worried that his candidacy will split left-leaning votes and allow Puliafito to capture the seat, as there are "more than enough Democrats to go around" in the district, he told Patch. Seawright defeated Puliafito by a margin of more than 40,000 votes in 2018, capturing more than 95 percent of the total vote.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo initially passed an executive order barring independent candidates from running in this year's elections in an effort to discourage petitioning amid the spread of the novel coronavirus. The revamped petitioning rules included moving up deadlines and requiring fewer signatures to qualify for party primaries. Cuomo enacted an executive order reinstating independent balloting on June 30. Candidates must submit nominating petitions between July 27 and 30.