While Yonkers voters may be preoccupied with the political drama in Washington, they may not realize that there is an important local election here in 2025. The Yonkers City Council President and Council Members serving the 2nd, 4th and 6th districts are up for re-election. These contests are shaping up to be hotly contested. The campaigns are already underway as candidates have begun circulating petitions to secure their place on the primary ballot. In heavily Democratic Yonkers, victory in the Democratic primary in most districts makes victory in the Nov. general elections highly likely.
Today we begin our series covering the election seasons. In coming issues, we’ll look at the candidates and at the top issues in those districts and citywide. If any readers have specific questions or comments about Yonkers politics, we encourage you to post your comments and/or email them to us. We promise to get back to you.
Yonkers Political Landscape
It can’t be news to anyone living in Yonkers or watching Yonkers politics that the political landscape of New York’s third-largest city is dominated by Mayor Mike Spano and his family-led, political machine. Spano is now in his fourth term, having served for over 13 years. He is technically term-limited and cannot run again after the end of his current term in 2027. However, if history is a guide, there is no guarantee that he will step down. In both 2018 and 2022, when term limit restrictions were in effect, the City Council (over which the Mayor has considerable influence) voted to change the term limit law, which allowed the Mayor to run for a third and fourth term. Recall that voters twice rejected lifting term limits, and so the City Council twice voted against the will of the voters in Yonkers.
Yonkers has become a one-party town, the Spano party. Although the Mayor began his political life as a Republican, he switched his registration to Democrat before he first ran for Mayor in 2011. Since then, he has consolidated his control over the local Democratic Party. Many of the Mayor’s key appointments in government have been former Republicans, including Deputy Mayor Steve Levy and former Deputy Mayor Jim Cavanaugh (the husband of current Planning Board Chair Wilson Kimball). The Mayor has used his power to influence and shape the Yonkers City Council, by supporting or withholding support for vying candidates. The Republican party has become a vestige of its former self, without any realistic chance of electing citywide candidates due to a 3-to-1 registration advantage of Democrats over Republicans in the City. There are two current Republican Council Members from the east side, although it’s Dist. 6 Council Member Merante who is considered the most consistently independent.
Another factor that has helped the Mayor retain power in Yonkers for so long is that Yonkers elections occur in off-years, when there are no federal elections for Congress, Senate or President. The off-year elections tend to have lower voter turnout and receive less attention from the media. This has made it easier for the well-organized Spano machine to get out the vote for their candidates when many voters are not paying close attention and fewer go to the polls.
The Primary is the Election
Because of the registration advantage of Democrats, the primary (usually held in June) determines the winner of most City races. In 2023, Mayor Mike Spano won a resounding victory over challengers Corazon Pineda-Isaac and Margaret Fountain-Coleman–67% to 21% to 11%. However, turnout was just 7% of the entire City registered voters. For the general election, Mayor Spano won reelection with 61% of the vote over Republican Anthony Merante. Turnout citywide was 22% of the City’s registered voters.
Make-Up of City Government
The City Council consists of seven members: six district representatives and the Council President, who is elected citywide. The Council is responsible for passing local legislation and approving the city’s budget. The Council President serves as the presiding officer of the City Council, setting legislative agendas. There are currently five Democrats and two Republicans on the Council. During the Spano administration, the Council has generally backed the Mayor’s agenda, which has focused on often-controversial downtown real estate development, ushering in the construction of a downtown movie studio, continued efforts to improve the schools, and new green and sustainability initiatives. However, historically, there have been tensions and areas of disagreement within the Democratic caucus, particularly regarding affordable housing, term limits and the scope of redevelopment projects.
Below you’ll find an overview of the current City Council. You can see where your Council Member stands on the relatively controversial issues of term limits and affordable housing, two issues which could play a part in this year’s elections. (Issues surrounding redevelopment, are not addressed here, but will be the subject of a future YL article.) Members with an asterisk are running for reelection this year.
*Lakisha Collins-Bellamy (Democrat, Council President)
Council President Collins-Bellamy was appointed to the Yonkers Board of Education by Mayor Spano in 2020, and then in 2021, with the Mayor’s endorsement, she defeated incumbent City Council President Michael Khader in the Democratic primary, and went on to win the general election. She was part of a 4-3 majority on the Council who voted to overturn the term limit restrictions in place in 2022, paving the way for the Mayor to run for a fourth term. Ms. Collins-Bellamy has not faced a vote on the City’s affordable housing ordinance. She will face a tough re-election race this year as there are currently three announced candidates, two former City Council Presidents (Chuck Lesnick and Michael Khader) and one current Council Member (Tasha Diaz), who intend to challenge her in the Democratic primary.
Deana Robinson (Democrat, 1st District)
Prior to her election in 2023, Council Member Robinson served as an aide to the previous 1st District Council Member Shanae Williams, who was elected to the Westchester County Board of Legislators. Having served for only 14 months on the Council, Ms. Robinson has not yet faced a vote on either term limits or affordable housing.
*Corazon Pineda-Isaac (Democrat, 2nd District)
Council Member Pineda-Isaac was first elected to the City Council in 2013. In 2018, she voted to extend term limits to allow Council Members and the Mayor to run for a third term in office, but then in 2022 voted against changing the term limit law to allow for a fourth term. In 2021, Ms. Pineda-Isaac voted in favor of an amendment to the city’s affordable housing ordinance which would have increased the percentage of required affordable units from 10% to 20% in newly constructed apartment buildings with over 100 units. The Mayor vetoed the amendment, and the effort to override the veto was unsuccessful. In 2023, Ms. Pineda-Isaac unsuccessfully primaried Mr. Spano for the Democratic nomination for mayor. This year, she is running for re-election to her Council seat without the Democratic Party endorsement. Ms. Pineda-Isaac states that she believes the Democratic Party refused to endorse her because she primaried the Mayor in 2023.
Tasha Diaz (Democrat, 3rd District)
Council Member Diaz was first elected to the Council in 2019. In 2021 on the issue of affordable housing, she initially voted in favor of the provision to increase the affordable housing requirements from 10% to 20% in new large apartment buildings. She then switched her vote and did not support the Council’s effort to override the Mayor’s veto. She also supported the Mayor’s efforts to remove the term limit restriction in 2022. In 2024, Ms. Diaz was stripped of her position as Majority Leader on the Council after allegedly making violent threats against fellow Councilwoman Corazón Pineda-Isaac. Ms. Diaz has announced her intention of running for City Council President in 2025.
*John Rubbo (Former Republican, now Democrat, 4th District)
Council Member Rubbo was first elected to the Council in 2017 as a Republican, but then changed his party affiliation during his first term in office. He voted to overturn the term limit restrictions in both 2018 and 2022, and like Council Member Diaz, switched his vote to prevent an override of the Mayor’s veto of a 2001 ordinance which would have increased affordable housing requirements. In 2024, Mr. Rubbo was appointed Council Majority Leader replacing Tasha Diaz. He is running for re-election this year and has secured the Democratic Party nomination.
Mike Breen (Republican, 5th District)
Council Member Breen was first elected in 2011. He twice voted to overturn the term limit restrictions, which allowed him to run for third and fourth terms in office. In 2021, he voted against increasing the number of required affordable units from 10% to 20% and then voted against overriding the Mayor’s veto. In 2023, Mr. Breen ran unopposed winning his fourth term in office.
*Anthony Merante (Republican, 6th District)
Council Member Merante was first elected in 2017. He voted against removing term limits restrictions in both 2018 and 2022, and then led the unsuccessful effort to require that the question of term limits be placed on the ballot to allow the voters to decide the issue. In 2023, he unsuccessfully ran against Mayor Spano as the Republican candidate. In 2021, he voted against increasing the number of required affordable units from 10% to 20% and then voted against overriding the Mayor’s veto. Mr. Merante has managed to maintain his seat on the Council despite the voter registration advantage for the Democrats in his district. He will face a tough re-election campaign this year, and will likely face the same Democratic challenger who almost defeated him in 2021.
