Governor Cuomo has just announced, as expected, that the state will hold special elections for the 6 open Assembly districts and the Congressional seat vacated by Rep. Anthony Weiner on September 13th – which coincides with primaries that are already taking place.

We expected this to happen for several reasons. First, they argue that it will save money because you won’t have to prepare for another election. Secondly, as the Buffalo News points out, if he didn’t call the election before July 6th, then it would have opened the races up to primary candidates.

By calling the elections now, the party leaders can control who gets on the major lines of the ballot. Some good government groups have criticized this policy, and had called on the Governor not to call special elections.

Here are the races that will be held on Sept. 13:

  • 9th Congressional District
  • 23rd Assembly District
  • 27th Assembly District
  • 54th Assembly District
  • 73rd Assembly District
  • 116th Assembly District
  • 144th Assembly District
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