Open Seats in the New York City Council – General Election 2017

This year marks the first municipal elections where the two-term limit, enacted in a 2010 referendum, is resulting in the vacancies of 7 of the 10 open seats in the New York City Council. Because of the political dynamics of the city and state, incumbents face significantly less competition in elections than competitors for vacant seats; this year the 7 vacancies due to term limits have yielded more competitive elections in terms of the number of challengers than contests in which incumbents were challenged. While there are only 7 council members reaching term limits this year, in the municipal elections of 2021 a majority of Council seats will be vacated as a result.

In addition to the 7 term-limited vacancies, there are 3 other open seats where no incumbent is running due to either personal reasons or, in the case of Council Member Ruben Wills (District 28), criminal conviction related to the misuse of public funds. Notably, one open seat – that of Council Member David Greenfield (District 44), who announced plans not to seek reelection after the petition-filing deadline for candidates to get on the ballot had passed – has a Democratic Party primary candidate with no other challengers. This year over both primary and General elections, Citizens Union evaluated candidates in races for 8 of the 10 open seats.