Turbulent UES Assembly Race Jolted By Residency Claims, Sudden Dropout

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — The crowded race for an open State Assembly seat on the Upper East Side has had a turbulent few days, featuring a provocative mailer, a costly campaign refund and the surprise dropout of a leading candidate.

Four Democrats — Adam Roberts, Kellie Leeson, Russell Squire and Alex Bores — are now vying for the 73rd District seat, covering Carnegie Hill, Lenox Hill and a chunk of Midtown between East 32nd and 94th streets. Dan Quart, who has held the seat since 2011, is not running for re-election.

The primary race included five people until Wednesday, when May Malik announced she was withdrawing to accept a job with the Biden administration.

That was only the latest twist in an eventful few days — here's a rundown.

Three candidates knocked for residency

In recent days, voters around the 73rd District have received mailers with a notable claim: three candidates in the race live outside the district.

The mailers were sent by the campaign of Squire, an attorney and Community Board 8 chair. It depicts suitcases with luggage tags showing the faces of Leeson, Roberts and Bores.

"Don't be fooled by some of the candidates running to be our Assembly Member. These three candidates don't even live in the district," the mailer reads.

That determination, sourced to candidate petitions and voting records, could not be immediately verified by Patch, but all three acknowledged they live slightly outside the district bounds.

In any case, their residency has no bearing on their spot on the ballot: candidates are allowed to live outside their districts in election years that follow the re-drawing of district lines, as this one does. (The bounds of the 73rd District changed slightly in the new map.)

The candidates spotlighted in the mailer had harsh words for Squire.

"I grew up on 90th Street, and I live on 76th Street. With redistricting, I live two blocks outside of district lines," Bores said in a statement. "It's obvious that Russell is using petty politics to distract from reports of his illegal campaign fundraising."

A spokesperson for Roberts also hit back, calling the accusations "a sleazy, baseless attack."

"Adam has lived on the East Side of Manhattan for the last twelve years and is deeply involved in our community. But due to Albany's redistricting dysfunction, Adam's current apartment ended up directly across the street from the current district lines," the spokesperson said. "Squire should be embarrassed for trying to buy this election with Trump-like misinformation, but we're confident that the Democratic voters of this district will see through his nonsense."

Leeson, finally, also said she had been affected by redistricting, with a spokesperson saying she "chose to run in the district where she has worked tirelessly as an organizing leader."

"Clearly, Russell is so wrapped up in shirking campaign finance laws that he is out of touch with the reality of redistricting," Leeson added directly. "Further, he lacks the political savvy to realize that the issues New Yorkers REALLY care about aren’t arbitrary boundary lines, but affordable housing, child-care and combatting climate change."

Squire's campaign, for its part, defended the mailers, saying that voters "overwhelmingly agree that our representatives should live in the district they seek to represent."

"It’s pretty simple: Alex Bores, Adam Roberts and Kellie Leeson do not live in our district," Squire campaign manager Jin Choi said in a statement. "Their candidacies are cynical and they have been deliberately misleading the voters."

Squire returns $24K after donations questioned

Meanwhile, when Squire's campaign filed its latest disclosure statement on Friday, it contained a notable nugget: the campaign had returned $24,700 in donations that had come under scrutiny.

That's more than double the $10,600 in contributions that the campaign initially pledged to return in April. That money was attributed entirely to "Tekmerion Capital GP" — a hedge fund founded by Squire's brother, Zachary — and far exceeded the state's calendar-year limit for a corporation to give to a candidate.

Squire's campaign declined to say why it was returning the additional $14,100. But fellow candidate Alex Bores claimed credit, saying he had told the state board of elections about additional donations to Squire's campaign that ran afoul of state law.

Since Squire's campaign did not name the people who own Tekmerion — also a required step under state law — identifying them might cause those individuals to run up against their own contribution limits, according to Bores. Indeed, Reed Morrissey — an executive at Tekmerion who previously gave $9,400 to Squire — had $8,500 of that money refunded after Squire's campaign apparently fixed its filings to name Tekmerion's owners.

Squire's campaign, which came under fire from rivals for its fundraising issues, stood by its practices on Wednesday.

"This story has previously been reported. As we said then, any excess contributions the campaign received were inadvertent, and the campaign has returned them," campaign manager Jin Choi said in a statement. "The campaign is in full compliance with all campaign finance regulations, and the fact that other campaigns are still trying to rehash this old story – whether through letters or the media – demonstrates that they have nothing else to run on."

Malik drops out, endorses Leeson

The latest twist came Wednesday, when Malik — a former community board member and city commissioner — announced she was withdrawing from the race after receiving an "out-of-the-blue invitation" to work for the White House in the Department of Health and Human Services' public affairs office.

"This was not an easy choice, and I truly believe that we were in a strong position coming into the primary, but when the call came to serve my country, especially as an immigrant who owes everything to the United States, I felt compelled to take it," Malik said in a message to supporters.

Malik urged supporters to vote instead for Kellie Leeson, a humanitarian advocate who had launched her bid on the same day as Malik in January.

"Kellie has been nothing but kind, respectful, and positive, even when we were the only two candidates directly competing for the same endorsements," Malik said.

But Malik directly criticized Squire, saying he "should not hold power" and citing his disputed donations.

"Russell’s record shows that in Albany, he will serve nobody but himself and will not act with the best interests of our community in mind," Malik said.

The 73rd District primary election will be held on June 28, along with all other State Assembly races.

In the ensuing weeks, Patch will publish detailed profiles on each candidate, laying out their experience, policy positions and more. Follow Upper East Side Patch for continued coverage of this year's state elections.

Related coverage:

• 2 More Candidates Join Upper East Side Assembly Race
• UES Candidate To Return Money After 'Illegal' Donation Accusations
• Dan Quart Retiring From UES Assembly Seat; Kallos, Squire May Run