By Michael Ventura
DNAinfo Senior Editor
MANHATTAN — State Democratic leaders chose five candidates — four men, one woman, all white — to be on the primary ballot in the race to replace Andrew Cuomo as Attorney General.
The candidates chosen at the state convention in Rye Brook, N.Y., include State Senator Eric Schneiderman, of upper Manhattan, Kathleen Rice, the Nassau Country district attorney, Assemblyman Richard Brodsky, of Westchester, Eric Dinallo, a former state insurance superintendent, and Sean Coffey, a trial lawyer.
The selection of the group, along with Cuomo's picking Rochester Mayor Robert Duffy as his running mate, all but ensures no black or Hispanic candidates will run for statewide office. On the Republican side, Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan is considered a likely candidate.
The primary race for attorney general is considered wide open, the New York Times reported.
“They’re going to have a five-way primary that starts out with Kathleen Rice in the lead,” Steven Greenberg, a spokesman for pollsters at the Siena Research Institute, told the Times. “But all five candidates are largely unknown to Democratic primary voters.”
Schneiderman is looking to counter Rice's popularity on Long Island by forging a coalition of labor unions, grassroots organizations and minority voters to solidify his position in the city, which is rich in Democratic voters, the paper said. That same coalition makeup helped propel John Liu and Bill de Blasio into into the comptroller and public advocate positions, respectively, the Times said.
The candidates did not get a chance to address the convention crowd, as voting dragged on for hours.
They will address the convention Thursday, as will Duffy and Cuomo.
