New York City elected a record six out candidates to its City Council Tuesday night.
The winners are Crystal Hudson (District 35) and Kristin Richardson Jordan (District 9), the first two Black women from the LGBTQ+ community elected to the council; Lynn Schulman (District 29) and Tiffany Caban (District 22), the first women from the community elected to any public office from Queens; Chi Osse (District 36), at 23 the youngest person ever elected to the council; and Erik Bottcher (District 3), who will preserve LGBTQ+ representation in his district, which is home to the Stonewall Inn.
Hudson's and Osse's districts are in Brooklyn, Jordan's and Bottcher's in Manhattan. Osse, like Hudson and Jordan, is Black, Caban is Latinx, and Schulman and Bottcher are white.
The previous record was five out candidates elected at one time.
"New York City just elected one of the largest slates of LGBTQ City Council candidates in the country and their diversity is reflective of the city they will now represent," Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which had endorsed all six. "As LGBTQ people and people of color continue to reel from economic and health disparities exacerbated by the pandemic, these new leaders will be on the frontlines ensuring inclusive legislation helps all New Yorkers recover. This is a watershed moment for New York -- and these LGBTQ candidates are ready to deliver."
All four current LGBTQ+ members of the council were termed out this year, leading to concerns there would be less LGBTQ+ representation, but that has turned out not to be the case.
New York also elected a new mayor Tuesday, Democrat Eric Adams, who has been a police officer, state senator, and Brooklyn borough president. He easily beat Republican Curtis Sliwa, best known as the founder of the Guardian Angels volunteer safety patrol. Adams, who will be the city's second Black mayor, was endorsed by the Stonewall Democrats of NYC, the city's largest LGBTQ+ Democratic club. The incumbent, Democrat Bill de Blasio, could not seek reelection due to term limits.
