Diamondstone Joins City Council Race

Ken Diamondstone, who recently abandoned a bid to try for the second time to unseat State Senator Marty Connor, just announced this morning that he will run for City Council in the 33rd district.

The district, which includes Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Brooklyn Heights and DUMBO, is currently represented by term-limited David Yassky.

In the announcement, Diamondstone’s campaign said he will “make history by becoming Brooklyn’s first openly gay representative to any legislative body in New York State.”

He has reason to believe he can do it.

When he ran for State Senate in 2006, Diamondstone was seeking to represent a district that covers lower Manhattan and portions of Brooklyn. Diamondstone lost the Manhattan portion of the district to Connor by 2,163 votes, but he carried narrowly lost the Brooklyn portion by 1,384 58 votes.

The 33rd Council district overlaps with that area of Brooklyn.

Already in that City Council race are Yassky’s former aide Evan Thies, Assemblyman Vito Lopez’s chief of staff Stephen Levin, Democratic district leader and attorney Jo Anne Simon, and chair of the Sierra Club’s political committee in New York City, Ken Baer.