Newly elected N.Y. State Sen. Erik Bottcher: state must be a bulwark against Trump

After winning a special election for New York State Senate last week, Erik Bottcher says the state must be a bulwark against the Trump administration..

Bottcher, a gay Democrat, leaves the New York City Council to fill the state Senate seat being vacated by another gay man, fellow Democrat Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who is now Manhattan borough president. Last fall, Bottcher entered the race for a U.S. House seat from New York’s 12th Congressional District, but he switched to the state Senate race in December, saying that body was where he felt he could do the most good.

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He won the 47^th District New York Senate seat easily last Tuesday, with 91.6 percent of the vote. Republican Charlotte Friedman had 7.6 percent. He was sworn in the next day will serve the remainder of Hoylman-Sigal’s term, which ends at the end of the year, but he plans to run for a full term. The primary election will be June 23 and the general election November 3. The district, on Manhattan’s West Side, is heavily Democratic and has a large LGBTQ+ population.

“Last week’s special election was about something simple: showing up, listening, and delivering results for the people we serve,” Bottcher said in a statement to The Advocate. “I’m deeply honored by the trust voters placed in me, and I’m ready to get to work from day one.

“At a moment when Donald Trump and his allies are doubling down on division, cruelty, and attacks on fundamental freedoms, New York must be a bulwark. In Albany, I will fight relentlessly to lower the cost of living and protect quality of life — expanding affordable housing and tenant protections, strengthening public safety while investing in mental health and supportive services, improving transit reliability and accessibility, and defending core rights, including LGBTQ+ New Yorkers’ freedom to live safely, openly, and without fear.

“This victory is the start, not the finish. I’m running in the general election because this district needs steady, values-driven leadership that will stand up to extremism, push back against Trump-era politics in all their forms, and deliver real results for our community.”

Hoylman-Sigal congratulated Bottcher in a post on X, saying, “I’m so proud that Erik is assuming the 47th Senate District that I had the privilege of representing on the West Side from ‘the gay bars to Zabar’s,’” a phrase Hoylman-Sigal has often used to describe the district.

In the special election, two other Democrats won seats in the state Assembly, Keith Powers from Manhattan and Diana Moreno from Queens. Both succeed fellow Dems. Powers succeeds Harvey Epstein, who has been elected to the City Council, and Moreno succeeds Zohran Mamdani, now New York City’s mayor.

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A special election to fill Bottcher's District 3 City Council seat will be held April 28. Several candidates have announced they're seeking the post, including Carl Wilson, a gay man who was Bottcher's chief of staff, and Lindsey Boylan, who was an aide to Andrew Cuomo when he was New York's governor and was the first woman to accuse him of sexual harassment.

The 12^th Congressional District race is still crowded, with Democratic candidates including Assembly Member Micah Lasher, widely viewed as the protégé of incumbent Jerry Nadler, who is retiring; Assembly Member Alex Bores; nonprofit founder Liam Elkind; journalist and attorney Jami Floyd; Jack Schlossberg, son of Caroline Kennedy and grandson of President John F. Kennedy; and lawyer and former Republican George Conway, who has become a sharp critic of Trump and is the ex-husband of onetime Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway.