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No special election coming soon for city council candidates
Bronx Democrats nominate slate of judges that don't include Andrew Cohen, meaning he won't be vacating his council seat
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Councilman Andrew Cohen will be a councilman at least for a little longer. He was not nominated for a judgeship, meaning there will be no special election to replace him this year.
JULIUS CONSTANTINE MOTAL / File
The Bronx Democratic County Committee nominated Wilma Guzman, Bahaati Pitt and John Higgit to the Bronx County Supreme Court at its convention Thursday evening.
The nominations put to rest months of speculation the BDCC would nominate Councilman Andrew Cohen. His appointment and subsequent departure from the council would have triggered a special election for his seat that's already heated between educator Eric Dinowitz — son of Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz — against former Community Board 8 chair and real estate lawyer Dan Padernacht, as well as political newcomer Dionel Then.
Guzman is a Bronx native and current supreme court justice. She was first elected to a citywide civil court judgeship in 1998 and appointed to acting supreme court justice in Bronx County. The following November, she was elected the supreme court justice in the 12th district.
Pitt was appointed interim civil court judge by Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2016 and was assigned to criminal court in early 2017. She received her law degree at SUNY Buffalo. She served as the president of the Black Bar Association of the Bronx until it merged with the Metropolitan Black Bar Association.
Higgit was appointed as an acting supreme court justice and a claims court judge last year. Previously, he was the chief court attorney for Bronx County court. He was an adjunct professor at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law between 2007 and 2010.
Cohen's term officially ends in 2021.
Keywords
Wilma Guzman, Bahaati Pitt, John Higgit, Andrew Cohen, Eric Dinowitz, Dan Padernacht, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Heather J. Smith, Dionel Then, Bill de Blasio,
