And then there were three.
The race to succeed disgraced former Assemblymember Pamela Harris has fewer contestants in the wake of an announcement from Democrat Chris McCreight that he’s no longer running.
McCreight, who serves as chief of staff to Councilmember Justin Brannan (D-Bay Ridge-Dyker Heights-parts of Bensonhurst) announced at a meeting of the Bay Ridge Democrats on July 12 that he is no longer running for the seat Harris held in the 46th Assembly District.
The district includes parts of Coney Island, Dyker Heights and Bay Ridge.
“Last night I announced to the @BayRidgeDems that I am no longer a candidate for the Assembly. To put it bluntly, this sucks,” McCreight wrote on Twitter on Friday. “But it became increasingly clear that my candidacy was going to negatively affect our chances of defeating Marty Golden and Dan Donovan in November.”
Republicans Marty Golden and Dan Donovan are running for re-election in November to the State Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. Donovan’s Democratic challenger is Max Rose. Golden is awaiting the winner of a Democratic Primary between Andrew Gounardes and Ross Barkan.
McCreight is the president of the Bay Ridge Democrats, a club that includes among its membership many Democratic foot soldiers who gather petition signatures, knock and doors and make phone calls to promote political candidates. McCreight plans to campaign for the Democratic candidates.
McCreight’s exit from the race leaves two Democrats running in the Sept. 13 Primary: Mathylde Frontus, a Coney Island civic leader and Ethan Lustig-Elgrably, a political activist.
The Republican candidate is Steve Saperstein, a teacher and political activist.
Harris, who was indicted several months ago on a variety of corruption charges, recently resigned from the State Assembly. She pleaded guilty in federal court to four out of the original 11 counts on June 12.