A pro-business Super PAC is shelling out $500,000 down the stretch to help re-elect six moderate or mainstream incumbent Democratic City Council members facing primary-election challenges.
The group Future NYC is pouring dough into races to defend pols Darlene Mealy in Brooklyn, Lynn Schulman, Linda Lee and Shekar Krishnan in Queens and Marjorie Velazquez and Kevin Riley in the Bronx, The Post has learned.
The spending blitz includes mailers, digital ads and get-out-the-vote efforts that covered the start of early voting June 17 and will continue through the June 27 primary election.
The treasurer of Future NYC, Jeff Leb, said the group is supporting Velazquez in District 13 in the Eastern Bronx for standing up to knee-jerk not-in-my-backyard opponents because she backed the rezoning of Bruckner Boulevard in Throggs Neck to build more affordable housing. He said the councilwoman should be rewarded, not punished, for doing the right thing.
Velázquez is up against Irene Estrada, chairwoman of Bronx Community Board 11, Van Nest neighborhood activist Bernadette Ferrara and Army vet John Perez.
“We are focusing on making sure that Marjorie Velazquez gets re-elected,” Leb said. “She has a tough primary with people attacking her from the left and the right and will likely have a spirited general election as well.
“She is being attacked for her position to increase the number of affordable houses that are desperately needed in her district and in the Bronx. We are doing mailers, digital advertising, billboard trucks, telephone outreach and a field operation,” he said.
Meanwhile Councilwoman Mealy, who is serving her third term in District 41 covering Brownsville and parts of Bedford Stuyesant in Brooklyn, faces a difficult primary bid from Isis McIntosh Green, who is backed by the leftist Working Families Party as well as state Assembly members Latrice Walker and Brian Cunningham and several unions. Jamilah Rose, a grant writer, is the third candidate.
“Darlene Mealy is a pragmatic, centrist member of the New York City Council and is being challenged by the extreme left,” Leb said.
Over in Queens, first-term Councilwoman Schulman is facing a tough primary fight from Ethan Felder in District 29 covering Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens and Richmond Hill. Sukhjinder “Sukhi” Singh Nijar is the third Democratic candidate in the race.
Schulman, with lifelong ties to the district, is chairwoman of the Council Health Committee and is an LGBT activist and has the backing of the Queens Democratic Party leadership. Felder, a lawyer, is an elected Democratic district leader who had served on Community Board 6.
Leb said Schulman is the common-sense Democrat and accused Felder, who backed democratic socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s first campaign, of trying to change his stripes in the moderate district.
“Lynn is one of the more moderate members of the LGBT community. She’s been a productive council member,” Leb said.
He called Felder “socialist light.”
Felder on Sunday defended his support of Ocasio-Cortez’s successful campaign that toppled then Rep. Joe Crowley in the 2018 Democratic primary, saying, “We have a problem with entrenchment and machine politics in Queens.
“We have also have a problem with Trump-backed dark money in politics,” he said. “I’m running a grass-roots campaign. I don’t identify as a socialist.”
In District 23 in Eastern Queens, taking in Queens Village and parts of Floral Park and Glen Oaks, Councilwoman Lee is facing challenges from finance lawyer Steve Behar, who has worked on or run campaigns for several elected officials, and Rubaiya Rahman.
Leb sees Behar as Lee’s greatest threat.
Lee was recently endorsed by a coalition of police unions including the Detectives Endowment Association, Lieutenants Benevolent Association, Captains Endowment Association, Sergeants Benevolent Association.
Behar has shot back at the Super PAC on Twitter.
“Super PACs funded by Manhattan Real Estate Billionaires are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to prop up my opponent and make false accusations against me and my family! Let’s show those Manhattan Real Estate Billionaires that Eastern Queens is not for sale!,” Behar said in a tweet.
Councilman Krishnan is serving his first term in the 25th District covering Elmhurst and Jackson Heights in Queens. He is the parks committee chairman.
His rivals include Ricardo Pacheco, a retired NYPD officer, and Fatima Baryab, a nonprofit executive who lost to Krishan in 2021.
Leb said Krishnan is a “left of center” politician but a responsible one, while his main challenger is further left.
Councilman Riley — a former aide to state Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie — represents Bronx District Council District 12 encompassing the northern neighborhoods of Wakefield, Edenwald, Eastchester, Williamsbridge, Barychester and Co-op City.
Riley faces two rivals: Aisha Hernandez Ahmed, a Co-op City resident who previously worked as chief of staff for the former ousted Councilman Andy King, and Pamela Hamilton-Johnson.
Leb said Riley deserves re-election.
The top funders of Future NYC include realtor Paulette Bailey and Richard Scharff of Abro Management.