Forest Hills' City Council Race: Where Things Stand

FOREST HILLS, QUEENS — There’s less than a month left until the June 22 primary elections, and the race to represent District 29 remains crowded, with eleven people running to succeed longtime City Councilmember Karen Koslowitz, who is term-limited.

Nine Democrats are running to replace Koslowitz, who has served five non-consecutive terms on the City Council since she first took office in 1991. One Republican is also vying for the City Council seat in District 29, which covers Forest Hills, Forest Park, Kew Gardens, Rego Park, and Richmond Hill.

Polling is not available for city council races — though this year’s polling remains sparse in the mayoral election too, because of confusion caused by ranked choice voting, according to some pollsters — so fundraising and endorsements can provide some clues as to how each campaign is faring.

In the coming weeks, Patch will publish the results of question-and-answer forms sent to each candidate, shedding light on each person's policy priorities, too.

The candidates

First, a brief recap of who is running in each primary (in alphabetical order).

The Democratic primary: David Aronov, an activist and organizer who co-founded the Bukharian Jewish Union; Avi Cyperstein, an EMT who co-founded Chaverim of Queens; Sheryl Fetik; Aleda Gagarin, an activist and nonprofit leader; Eliseo Labayen, a former political staffer and street safety advocate; Lynn Schulman, an attorney who works at the City Council Office of the Speaker; Douglas Shapiro, a financial advisor; Edwin Wong, civic advocate and founder and president of the Forest Hills Asian Association; Donghui Zang, a financial analyst.

Michael Conigliaro is the sole Republican running for the District 29 City Council seat. He is a lawyer.

The money race

Schulman, who has raised $241,196 in private and public matching funds combined, is leading the district’s fundraising race.

Aronov, Cyperstein, Gagarin, and Zang — all of whom, like Schulman, have raised the maximum match of $160,444 in public matching funds — trail behind her with $225,483, $210,063, $194,162, and $189,984, respectively.

Looking at the total number of donations made to each campaign, Gagarin has more individual donations than the rest of the field. She has had 704 donations made to her campaign at an average of $48.

Schulman has raised more than two times the amount of private funds compared to Gagarin, but places second when it comes to the amount of individual donations she’s received. Her campaign has garnered 603 donations at an average of $124. She’s also raised more than $5,800 from political committees and labor unions.

Among all the candidates in the district, Aronov has raised the most money from the Forest Hills ZIP code of 11375. His contributions from 157 people in the neighborhood amount to $34,849 — more than four times the amount of the ZIP code’s runner up, Zang, who has raised $7,354 in campaign contributions from 122 people living in Forest Hills.

Wong has a slight edge on Zang when it comes to the number of people who have donated to his campaign from Forest Hills: He’s received 129 donations from people in the 11375 ZIP code, amounting to $4,459 total.

Gagarin and Schulman have also received more than 100 donations each — 116 and 104, respectively — from people living in Forest Hills.

While all of the candidates have received donations from outside the bounds of District 29, Cyperstein leads the pack in terms of the amount of individual contributions he’s made from a single ZIP code outside of the district. He has raised $14,189 from the nearby neighborhood of Kew Gardens Hills, which is part of District 24.

The ZIP code where Conigliaro has raised the most money from individual contributors is also outside of the district. He has raised more money in the Glendale ZIP code of 11385, $2,025, than he has in the four ZIP codes that comprise District 29 — where he’s raised a total of $1,539.

Who is endorsing who?

Only four candidates in the District 29 race have received endorsements by organizations — three of those candidates have local elected officials standing in support of their campaigns.

Schulman has been endorsed by more organizations and elected officials than any other candidate, including U.S. Representatives Grace Meng (D-NY) and Ritchie Torres (D-NY), who represent Queens and the Bronx, respectively. She’s also received endorsements from a handful of City Councilmembers, including Koslowitz and others who represent Queens. Schulman is the only candidate to receive the support of unions, and she’s also been endorsed by many clubs and political groups, like Queens Democrats, Planned Parenthood PAC, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, and many more.

Zang has the second greatest number of politicians standing behind his campaign, including Citycouncil Members Peter Koo and Robert Holden of Queens, New York State Assemblymember William Colton and Former State Senator Tony Avella who is running for City Council in Bayside. Two parent-led organizations have also endorsed his campaign.

Gagarin has been backed by several progressive politicians and organizations, including State Assemblymember Ron Kim of Queens and longtime Long Island City City Councilmember, and Queens Borough President candidate, Jimmy Van Bramer. She’s also received the support of district leaders, and a handful of progressive organizations including the Working Families Party, New York Communities for Change, and Run for Something.

Aronov has been endorsed by four organizations, including the New York Pan-Asian Democratic Club.

A complete list of endorsements can be found on each candidate's website, all of which are linked above.

Forest Hills Patch will have ongoing coverage of the City Council race ahead of the June 22 primary, including candidate responses to a series of questions.

The deadline to register to vote for the primary is May 28. Learn more here.