NY House primary runner-up opts against progressive challenge to Dan Goldman in November

New York state Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou (D), who finished second in the House primary for New York’s 10th Congressional District last month, is opting against a progressive challenge to Dan Goldman, the Democratic nominee for the district.

Niou, who has served in the New York State Assembly since 2017, narrowly lost the Democratic primary to Goldman, an attorney who served as the lead counsel during former President Trump’s first impeachment trial, by 2.1 percentage points. Days after her defeat she said she was mulling a run for the seat as a member of the Working Families Party.

The progressive Working Families Party in June endorsed Niou in the Democratic primary.

But on Tuesday, Niou announced that she is sitting out the race.

“Enough of the absentee ballots have been counted, and we are conceding the primary. And I will not be on the WFP line for the general,” Niou said in a video posted on Twitter.

She put off formally conceding the race because of outstanding absentee ballots.

“We simply do not have the resources to fight all fights at the same time, and we must protect our democracy now. This starts with keeping insurrectionists from taking control of Congress in November,” she added.

Sochie Nnaemeka, the director of the New York Working Families Party, said the decision to keep Niou off the ballot in the general election was made “after careful deliberation” between the candidate and the party.

“As we approach November, we’ll collectively turn our efforts to defending our democracy against an increasingly extremist GOP. We’re proud of Yuh-Line and know she will continue to be a courageous voice and a beloved leader in the WFP,” Nnaemeka said in a statement.

Both Niou and the Working Families Party took jabs at Goldman, an heir to Levi Strauss & Co. who put millions of his own personal wealth into the race and secured the coveted New York Times endorsement.

And at the end of the primary, progressive candidates in the race appeared to team up against him.

Niou and Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), whose third-place finish will end his time in Congress, campaigned together to try to counter Goldman.

Jones, who currently represents New York’s 17th congressional district, moved into the 10th District after redistricting, which left the latter seat open. Jones decided to move to the 10th District after Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, opted to run in a newly drawn district that encompassed a large part of Jones’s old area.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) was also in the primary for the 10th Congressional District but dropped out of the race in July.