Primary Result
What happened in the June 23 primary?
Grace Lee won the Democratic primary for State Senate District 27 against Yuh-Line Niou. This rundown keeps the pre-primary comparison as background on the open-seat race.
PrimaryState SenatorNY Senate District 027
NY Senate District 27 Democratic Primary
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NY Senate District 27 2026 Primary: Grace Lee vs. Yuh-Line Niou Results and Candidate Comparison
Grace Lee won the Democratic primary for State Senate District 27 against Yuh-Line Niou. This rundown keeps the pre-primary comparison as background on the open-seat race.
The comparison below is retained as post-primary reference material: it summarizes the candidates, positions, endorsements, and issues voters were weighing before the race was decided.
Overview
What is the background?
The June 23, 2026, Democratic primary in New York's 27th State Senate district was an open-seat contest to succeed retiring Sen. Brian Kavanagh, who has held the seat since 2017 1. The race featured Assembly Member Grace Lee and former Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou, a rematch of sorts: Lee challenged Niou for AD-65 in 2020 (Niou won 64% to 36%) before winning the seat in 2022 after Niou ran for Congress 23.
When was the SD-27 Democratic primary?
What is the background?
Tuesday, June 23, 2026 1.
What neighborhoods make up SD-27?
What is the background?
SD-27 covers Lower Manhattan, including Chinatown, the Financial District, Battery Park City, the Lower East Side, the East Village, and parts of the West Village and Tribeca 13.
Why is the seat open?
What is the background?
Sen. Brian Kavanagh, chair of the influential Senate housing committee and a Lower Manhattan legislator for two decades, announced in February 2026 that he would not seek re-election 1.
Who is on the Democratic primary ballot?
What is the background?
Assembly Member Grace Lee and former Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou 12.
Who is Grace Lee?
What is the background?
Grace Lee has represented Assembly District 65 (Lower Manhattan) since January 2023. She won the open seat in 2022 after Niou ran for Congress and was unopposed for re-election in 2024 36.
What is Lee's background?
What is the background?
Lee is a Lower Manhattan small-business owner, community activist, and former chair of the parents group Children Against Toxic Substances. She has Lower Manhattan roots in Chinatown and Battery Park City 34.
Who is Yuh-Line Niou?
What is the background?
Yuh-Line Niou represented Assembly District 65 from 2017 to 2022, making her the first Asian American elected to the Assembly from that district. She left the seat in 2022 to run in the open NY-10 Democratic primary, where she finished a close second behind Dan Goldman 23.
What is Niou's background?
What is the background?
Niou was born in Taipei and raised in the U.S. Pacific Northwest. Before elected office, she worked as a legislative assistant in the Washington State Legislature and as chief of staff to Assembly Member Ron Kim. She has publicly discussed her autism diagnosis at age 22 and her experience as a survivor of childhood sexual assault 23.
Have both candidates faced each other before?
What is the background?
Yes. Lee challenged Niou in the 2020 AD-65 Democratic primary. Niou won 64% to 35.7%. After Niou left the seat to run for Congress in 2022, Lee won the AD-65 Democratic primary 23.
What is Niou's housing record?
What is the background?
Niou prioritized tenant-protection and NYCHA funding legislation as an Assembly Member. She was a reliable vote for the 2019 rent laws and a vocal supporter of Good Cause eviction. As an Assembly Member, she fought to add state funding to NYCHA and to combat predatory lending 34.
What is Lee's housing record?
What is the background?
Lee, currently in the Assembly, has supported the Good Cause eviction package, voted for increased NYCHA appropriations in the state budget, and chairs initiatives related to coastal-resiliency planning for Lower Manhattan, a district uniquely vulnerable to flooding 3.
Did both candidates support Good Cause eviction?
What is the background?
Yes. Both candidates supported the Good Cause eviction package signed into law in 2024 34.
Has Israel-Palestine policy been a defining issue in the race?
What is the background?
The race has not been framed primarily around Israel-Palestine policy. Both candidates have aligned with the Assembly Democratic mainstream on state-level Israel-related resolutions 34.
What is Niou's position on Israel and Gaza?
What is the background?
Niou has called for a ceasefire and humanitarian access in Gaza and has criticized state-level legislation she views as restricting pro-Palestine speech. Her congressional run in 2022 included AIPAC-funded opposition spending 3.
What is Lee's position?
What is the background?
Lee has supported continued U.S. security cooperation with Israel and has aligned with mainstream Democratic Assembly positions, including condemnation of anti-Asian and antisemitic hate crimes 34.
What did Niou do on the Child Victims Act?
What is the background?
Niou disclosed her own experience of childhood sexual assault during a January 2019 Assembly hearing on the Child Victims Act. The bill, which allowed survivors of abuse to file civil charges decades after the events, passed the Assembly that day 130 to 3 2.
What is Niou's role on the Reproductive Health Act?
What is the background?
Niou helped lead passage of the Reproductive Health Act, codifying abortion rights in New York State law 4.
What is Lee's record on reproductive rights?
What is the background?
Lee has voted with Assembly Democrats on abortion-rights legislation and has campaigned on reproductive healthcare access in Lower Manhattan 3.
Why is mercury a campaign issue?
What is the background?
In her 2020 Assembly run against Niou, Lee centered her campaign on the issue of mercury contamination at Children's Aid Society child-development facilities and other Lower Manhattan environmental-toxics issues. She has continued the environmental-toxics emphasis through her time in the Assembly 4.
What is Niou's environmental record?
What is the background?
Niou chaired the Assembly Subcommittee on Catastrophic Natural Disasters and worked on climate adaptation and coastal-resiliency policy. She is a co-chair of the Asian Pacific American Task Force focused on AAPI-community issues 2.
What is Niou's record on AAPI funding?
What is the background?
Niou co-led the AAPI Equity Budget with State Sen. John Liu, which secured the first dedicated state funding for Asian American communities. The framing was that AAPI New Yorkers are roughly 11% of the state population but received less than 2% of social-services funding 4.
What is Lee's record on AAPI issues?
What is the background?
Lee, the first Korean American to represent AD-65, has championed anti-Asian hate crime legislation and AAPI-community funding in the Assembly. She represents one of the most heavily AAPI districts in Manhattan 3.
Who has endorsed Niou?
What is the background?
NYC Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Communications Workers of America, Churches United for Fair Housing Action, CAAAV Voice, former Comptroller Brad Lander, all four NYC-DSA City Council members, Assembly Member Ron Kim, and former Rep. Jamaal Bowman 56.
Who has endorsed Lee?
What is the background?
Sen. Brian Kavanagh (the retiring incumbent) and the majority of Manhattan Democratic Party officials, according to The Indypendent's reporting 46.
Has Mayor Mamdani endorsed?
What is the background?
As of May 2026, Mamdani has not formally endorsed in the race 36.
What does internal polling show?
What is the background?
An internal poll released by the Lee campaign showed Lee leading Niou, with a large plurality of voters undecided 6. Niou's campaign has said it has mapped roughly 15,000 votes needed to win, focused on the ground game 6.
How did SD-27 vote in the 2025 mayoral primary?
What is the background?
Lower Manhattan, including the AD-65 portion of SD-27, was the most pro-Mamdani Assembly district in Manhattan south of 125th Street in the final round of the 2025 ranked-choice mayoral primary, with Mamdani winning 65% to Cuomo's 35% 47.
What is the framing of the race in coverage?
What is the background?
Coverage describes the race as a test of whether Lee's institutional and incumbent-officeholder momentum can overcome Niou's district roots, progressive coalition, and the post-Mamdani left's energy in Lower Manhattan 46.
Sources
Source 1
City & State New York, "Brian Kavanagh won't seek reelection to state Senate," February 3, 2026
Source 2
Wikipedia, "Yuh-Line Niou," last updated May 2026
Source 3
Ballotpedia, "Yuh-Line Niou," accessed May 2026
Source 4
Medium / Art Chang, "Why I'm Endorsing Yuh-Line Niou for NY State Senate," April 2026
Source 5
The Indypendent, "NYC Public Advocate, Communication Workers of America, and Progressive Groups Come Out for Yuh-Line Niou," April 17, 2026
Source 6
The Indypendent, Niou candidacy reporting and internal poll coverage, April 2026
Source 7
City & State New York, "Illapa Sairitupac preps second run for lower Manhattan Assembly seat," February 23, 2026