Bottcher Coasts to Another Landslide Victory in CD 3 Primary
The Democratic incumbent for City Council in District 3 won by a wide margin, securing over 73 percent of the vote. Bottcher’s No. 1 priority: mental health support followed by affordable housing and clean and green streets.

Incumbent City Council member Erik Bottcher cruised to a landslide victory in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for District 3, securing 73.96 percent of all votes. In his heavily Democratic district, Bottcher all but seems assured of second term this November and securing his status as one of the most popular vote-getters in the entire City Council.
According to preliminary results, Bottcher drew 20,550 first-choice preferences compared with the 7,056 or 25.39 percent of his closest challenger, Jacqueline Lara, a NYCHA tenant organizer. Bottcher’s decisive wins come as no surprise; in recent elections, he is no stranger to a landslide victory.
In the last general election in November 2023, Bottcher cruised to victory with 89.1 percent of the vote, defeating Robert Bobrick, who ran on the Republican and Medical Freedom lines but secured only 10.4 percent of vote.
In 2021, Bottcher won the same election for the Democratic primary for City Council District 3 with 71.4 percent of the vote, which was 10,000 more than the closest candidate, Arthur Schwartz, who received 28.6 percent of the vote.
Bottcher ran unopposed in the general election that year.
Bottcher, who hails from Upstate New York around Lake Placid, has said he suffered from depression as an adolescent and attempted suicide several times before coming out as gay.
His experiences with bullying and mental health issues formed a big part of his agenda as a public servant and activist who has represented District 3—which includes Chelsea, Hell’s Kitchen, the West Village, Hudson Square, and parts of Greenwich Village and Times Square—since 2022.
His public service career began in 2009, when he was the LGBTQ & HIV/AIDS Community Liaison chief of staff to City Council speaker Corey Johnson, helping to organize grassroots campaigns on issues such as transgender rights, hate crimes, housing for people with HIV/AIDS, and marriage equality. Bottcher also developed initiatives against bullying in NYC public schools.
In the final hours on the campaign trail, Bottcher was spotted at various places around the city, campaigning with the local Hell’s Kitchen Democrats and various other voters. His campaign ended at RISE Bar on the Upper West Side. Alongside the Village Democrats, Bottcher held a watch party on West 56th Street from 8 to 11pm, where he was joined by a lively crowd of campaign workers and well-wishers.
“I’m deeply honored to have been elected to a final four-year term as your Council Member,” Bottcher wrote on Instagram. “Representing you has been the honor and privilege of my lifetime.”
Historically, Bottcher has fought to reverse decades of inadequate policies and a lack of investment in mental healthcare, work that will likely continue in his next term. Additionally, he continues to work toward passing landmark legislation requiring family homeless shelters to provide a variety of services for mental health.
Bottcher has also been at the head of many sanitation-improvement efforts in the city, spearheading reforms and initiatives such as increased corner trash basket service.
As the city faces the lowest rental-apartment vacancy rate since 1968 and the highest levels of homelessness since the Great Depression, Bottcher said he plans to work with the community to create thousands of affordable housing units that have been essential in addressing the issue.
He’s also been a supporter of congestion pricing and has implemented a fully protected bike lane along Tenth Avenue and extended the Sixth Avenue protected bike lane south of Ninth Street. This term, he wants to complete the Broadway redesign, fill in bike-lane gaps around Penn Station and south of Houston Street on the Seventh Avenue/Varick Street protected bike lane, and bring more school streets to District 3.
Bottcher concluded his announcement by stating, “I’m more energized than ever to build a city where people of all incomes can thrive and live out their dreams. I know that future is possible—and with the right policies and the courage to carry them out, we will make it a reality. Let’s get to work.”