‘Greedy Jewish Landlords’ Candidate Loses Manhattan Primary

By Josh Nathan-Kazis September 13, 2017

Thomas Lopez-Pierre, the New York City Council candidate whose campaign focused around a condemnation of “greedy Jewish landlords,” lost in yesterday’s Democratic primary — but took a quarter of the vote on the way.

A longtime political provocateur with a years-long history of outrageous and offensive remarks, Lopez-Pierre aimed to unseat incumbent Mark Levine, who has represented parts of Harlem and uptown Manhattan since 2014.

Lopez-Pierre fell short, but despite his anti-Semitic rhetoric earned 3,000 votes to Levine’s 8,800.

“Thank you to the people of the 7th Council District for putting your faith in me again,” Levine tweeted Tuesday night. “#UnityWins #HateLoses”

Lopez-Pierre has not tweeted since polls closed.

Lopez-Pierre raised only $17,000 for his campaign, but received $99,000 from the city’s Campaign Finance Board. According to the Campaign Finance Board’s website, he had $59,000 left on primary day.

Contact Josh Nathan-Kazis at [email protected] or on Twitter, @joshnathankazis.

Josh Nathan-Kazis is a staff writer for the Forward. He covers charities and politics, and writes investigations and longform.

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