their former boss.<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\nFormer staffers know the constituents, issues and political landscape of their district. They develop an arsenal of exclusive connections, insight and experience that provide an established voter and fundraising base. A position working for an elected official does not guarantee an election victory, but goes a long way in local elections that center around name recognition and familiarity. This year, 10 term-limited council members either left the council early or are finishing up their tenures. Here are the former staffers who won the primary elections in six of their seats.<\/p>\n
Elsie Encarnacion, District 8<\/strong><\/p>\nWorked for: <\/strong>term-limited Council Member Diana Ayala, former Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito<\/p>\nIn District 8, Elsie Encarnacion will directly succeed her boss after she clinched the East Harlem and South Bronx seat in a crowded race. Encarnacion worked first as a senior adviser and then chief of staff for Council Member Diana Ayala for about three years and had worked for six years under former Council Member Melissa Mark-Viverito. She joins a lineage, as Ayala also succeeded her boss and incumbent Mark-Viverito.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Justin Sanchez, District 17<\/strong><\/p>\nWorked for: <\/strong>state Sen. Nathalia Fernandez, Council Member Rafael Salamanca, Jr.<\/p>\nJustin Sanchez held multiple staff\u00a0 positions, including as a constituent liaison for Council Member Rafael Salamanca Jr. in District 17 seven years ago. \u201cTo a lot of folks in the community, I basically was their kid growing up and watching me start off as just the community liaison and seeing the journey to doing this.\u201d Sanchez said. Most recently, he served as state Sen. Nathalia Fernandez\u2019s chief of staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ty Hankerson, District 28\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nWorked for: <\/strong>term-limited <\/strong>City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams<\/p>\nTy Hankerson won his primary race in District 28 to fill City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams\u2019 term-limited spot. Adams supported her district chief of staff throughout the race and her high profile endorsement likely made a significant impact.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Alicia Vaichunas and Phil Wong, District 30\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nWorked for:<\/strong> term-limited Council Member Bob Holden<\/p>\nInterestingly, in District 30 both the Republican and Democratic nominees are current staffers for term-limited incumbent Council Member Bob Holden. Republican Alicia Vaichunas and Democrat Phil Wong will face off in the general election in November to claim the seat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kayla Santosuosso, District 47<\/strong><\/p>\nWorked for: <\/strong>term-limited Council Member Justin Brannan<\/p>\nKayla Santosuosso won the primary to succeed Council Member Justin Brannan, but still faces a competitive general election in District 47. She served as his deputy chief of staff from 2019 to 2021 while attending law school. She practiced law for three years and returned as Brannan\u2019s chief counsel before deciding to run herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Frank Morano, District 51<\/strong><\/p>\nWorked for: <\/strong>former Council Member Joe Borelli\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\nCouncil Member Frank Morano won the primary for his reelection in District 51. He ran for reelection following his win in a special election after the resignation of his predecessor and boss Joe Borelli. Morano worked part-time for Borelli for two years before he ran for the seat.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dynasties are common in politics: the Cuomos, Vallones, Spanos and Roosevelts to name a few. However for New…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":33649,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,405,403,6640,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-33648","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-city","11":"tag-new-york-city-council","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkcity","14":"tag-ny","15":"tag-nyc","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114785878752243500","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}