White Voters May Decide the Fate of NYC’s Most Diverse District

New York City’s newly created US House district straddling Lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn appears to represent the ultimate melting pot of Jewish, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian and gay voters concentrated in a city with some of the highest income inequality in the US.

But an analysis of likely voters suggests that the diversity is unlikely to be reflected at the polls on Election Day.

The voting-age population of the district is less than 50% White -- which closely matches the ethnic diversity of the city as a whole. Yet, more than 80% of voters who have voted in at least two Democratic primaries in the last eight years live in census blocks where White residents make up the largest share of the population, according to data from the Center for Urban Research at the City University of New York.

If those trends continue, the election will be largely decided by people who live in majority White neighborhoods, said John Mollenkopf, the center’s director.