Judge Dismisses Eligibility Challenge In UES Assembly Race

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — A State Supreme Court judge on Thursday ruled that an Upper East Side activist running for State Assembly is eligible to remain on the ballot this fall, dismissing a challenge brought by incumbent Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright's campaign over his residency.

It's the latest twist in a turbulent race for the 76th Assembly District, which was turned on its head when Seawright, a Democrat, was kicked off the ballot in May for failing to file paperwork on time. She is now launching an independent bid to retain her seat and is being challenged by Patrick Bobilin, who is also running as an independent.

Bobilin had spent several stints in Illinois after moving there for graduate school in 2009. After moving back and forth between Chicago and New York, he settled permanently on the Upper East Side in the spring of 2016.

Seawright's campaign pointed to a clause in the state constitution requiring that state legislative candidates live in New York for at least five years prior to the election. They noted that Bobilin had voted in Illinois through 2016 and paid taxes there until 2015, while Bobilin showed documentation that he had planned all along to move back to New York, where his family has lived for five generations.

In her order Thursday rejecting the Seawright campaign's claims, State Supreme Court Justice Carol R. Edmead pointed to recent precedent in a neighboring district: in May, the state's highest court allowed a challenger to incumbent East Side Assemblymember Dan Quart to remain on the ballot, dismissing Quart's claims that the challenger, Cameron Koffman, had been voting out-of-state for several years.

Bobilin told Patch Thursday he felt "vindicated" by Justice Edmead's ruling, while a Seawright campaign spokesperson said they were considering appealing to the state's highest court, the New York State Court of Appeals.

"The facts are clear that Mr. Bobilin does not meet the minimum requirements to run for New York State Assembly," Seawright spokesperson Michael Arenas said in a statement.

The Nov. 3 general election will pit Seawright and Bobilin against Republican Louis Puliafito, who previously lost to Seawright in 2014.

The incumbent lawmaker told the New York Post that her campaign is "taking all necessary steps to avail ourselves of our legal right to run for re-election on an independent line" and compared Republican efforts to knock her off the ballot to "a Soviet Union-style election."

Bobilin is affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America, and is also a leader of the group Upper East Side for Black Lives Matter, which has been holding nightly protests and vigils in Carl Schurz Park since June.