Welcome to the General Election Primary, a new series from Political Science Pulse. In this series, we examine “General Election Primaries,” which are elections in which no other candidate from an opposing party has registered, essentially making the primary determine the general election outcome.

In New York’s 16th District, there will be a General Election primary featuring four Democratic candidates, incumbent Eliot Engel, Derickson Lawrence, Joyce Briscoe, and Jonathan Lewis.

Incumbent Eliot Engel endorsed Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for President in 2016. Hillary would go on to be the runner up to President Donald Trump (R-NY) in the general Presidential election.

He introduced the Protect American Democracy Act along with one other Democrat. It orders the Secretary of State to provide a list of those who interfere with information systems, revoke visas from those on the list, and also requires the Treasury Department to freeze their assets.

Mr. Engel also proposed the SECURE Our Democracy Act, which would sanction any foreign entity or individual who illegally meddled with a federal election. In support of the Act, Engel noted, “If the criminals who interfered with out election get away with it, what’s to stop our enemies from doing the same thing the next time Americans cast their votes?”

In 2017, he proposed legislation that would require the FCC to strengthen the cybersecurity of America’s communication networks.

The Representative from New York also proposed a resolution that urged President Donald Trump (R-NY) not to lift sanctions on Russia until the investigation into which Trump aides had ties to Russia was completed. The resolution stated, “Until investigations are completed and the American people know the full facts of the attack upon our democracy, the Trump White House should not be changing our nation’s policies to benefit Vladimir Putin and his government.”

Unsatisfied by the initial results, he sent a letter and briefed the press on how poorly a job Republican leaders were doing when it came to securing the elections against Russian interference. At the press conference, he stated, “Putin views 2016 as a successful operation. Why wouldn’t they do it again?” He also noted that President Trump was sent sanction legislation in 2015, and Trump had not imposed sanctions on Russia yet.

One week before the deadline to impose sanctions on Russia, House Democrats and Senators wrote to Donald Trump and asked him why he had not yet implemented sanctions. The letter read in part, “We expect a full report from the administration on why sanctions have not yet been imposed in response to these clear violations [of election law]. We also urge you to use this provision to send a strong message to the Russian Federation that you will assertively impose these sanctions in the event that it interferes in the 2018 US election or the upcoming elections of our allies.”

Next, he confronted President Trump over the senior counter-terrorism aide on the National Security Council, Sebastian Gorka. Mr. Engel noted that Mr. Gorka had publicly stated his support for, as well as his membership in, anti-Semitic and racist groups in Hungary. The letter urged Mr. Trump to fire Mr. Gorka immediately. Eighteen House Democrats signed the letter at first, though many more were expected to sign the letter after. Republican members of the Bipartisan Taskforce for Combating Anti-Semitism were also invited to sign the letter, but they decline. Gorka was eventually fired from the White House, but even this is up for debate as Mr. Gorka claims he resigned from the position before President Trump fired him.

Then, he differed with Mr. Trump over the Iranian nuclear deal passed under President Obama (D-IL). He discouraged the idea of re-imposing sanctions on Iran.  He noted, “I think that maybe it’ll make the President feel good. It might make me feel good. But it’s not the right thing to do.”

He also confronted Secretary of State Rex Tillerson over President Trump’s executive order on cybersecurity. The leaders of the House Foreign Affairs Committee wanted a briefing over how the State Department planned to deter America’s cyber enemies while at the same time creating an international strategy for international cyber cooperation. Recommendations on both parts of the executive order were to be given to President Trump by Mr. Tillerson.

On Abortion, the Representative voted against HR 36, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act on October 3rd, 2017. This bill would make it a crime for anyone to perform or attempt to perform an abortion if the fetus was 20 weeks or older, with exceptions being made to save the life of the mother or in cases of rape or incest.  The 20-week mark is when many pro-life Republicans believe that the fetus can feel pain, hence the name of this act. The bill passed the House by a 237-189 vote. The law later died in the Senate.

On the Economy, the Representative from New York voted against the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The bill passed the House, 227-205, and was signed into law by the President.

Eliot Engel voted for an aid package for Hurricane Harvey victims, called the Disaster Relief Appropriations Act of 2017. This bill passed the House  316-90, and was signed into law by President Trump.

On Finance, the Representative from New York did not vote on the Financial CHOICE Act, which would weaken provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. The bill passed the house, 233-186, largely on partisan lines. the bill has since died in the Senate.

He also opposed a later version of the Financial CHOICE bill, which was S 2155, otherwise known as the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, and Consumer Protection Act. He voted against it, but it passed the House by a vote of 258-159, and was later signed into law by the President.

On Foreign Policy, he voted for the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act. This act would allow for Congress to review and counter acts of aggression by the governments of Iran, Russia, and North Korea. The bill passed almost unanimously, 419-3, on July 25th, 2017. It was later signed into law by the President.

On Health Care, Rep. Engel supported the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare. As a result, citing concerns about how it could negatively impact seniors, he voted “no” on the American Health Care Act (AHCA) on May 4th, 2017. The bill passed the House, 217-213, largely along partisan lines. The law eventually died in the Senate.

On Immigration, he voted against Kate’s Law on June 29th, 2017. This bill would provide an increase in penalty severity for illegal immigrants who are convicted of certain crimes, are deported, and then re-enter the U.S. illegally. The law’s namesake is Kate Steinle, who was allegedly shot and killed by an illegal immigrant who had seven felonies. The alleged murderer was later acquitted after the vote, which essentially removes any legal connection it would have had with the illegal immigrant. his law passed the House 257-167, but has not yet passed the Senate.

He also voted against the No Sanctuary for Criminals Act on June 29th, 2017. This bill would withhold federal funds from states and localities that are “sanctuary cities/states” for illegal immigrants. The bill passed the House, 228-195. This bill has yet to pass the Senate.

If voters did not prefer Rep. Engel, perhaps they voted for Derickson Lawrence. Mr. Lawrence’s two chief issues are that those displaced by gentrification should be helped, and that property tax deductions should be decreased. There were many more planks to his platform, discussed below.

On Criminal Justice, he is against the “three strikes you’re out” as well as mandatory minimum sentencing. He believes that this has led to mass incarceration and abuse of inmates. He is against the “Prison Industrial Complex.” Instead of this approach, he advocates diagnosis of addiction, treatment of addiction, and drug abuse education.

On the Economy, Mr. Lawrence supports workforce development. He also believes that investing in underserved communities, entrepreneurship, community colleges, and local chambers of commerce are key to rebuilding the economy.

On the Environment, the challenger supports a global treaty that would stop climate change, similar to the Paris Accords signed by President Obama. He is also for GMO food labelling, where foods that contain GMOs are clearly labelled, and not through a QR code as the law currently states.

On Foreign Policy, he differs sharply from Rep. Engel. For one, he is against the Syrian Civilian Protection Act, which would support a no-fly zone in Syria. He believes this policy is too militaristic and further accuses Rep. Engel of having a “Bush/Cheney war mentality.”

Derickson Lawrence also completely differs from Rep. Engel on the Iran nuclear deal. Rep. Engel ultimately voted against the deal, while Mr. Derickson would have voted for it since it was a ‘sane and nuanced” foreign policy that used diplomacy over war.

On Gun Control, Mr. Lawrence wants to ensure that school shootings,  like the one in Parkland, Florida that left seventeen dead, will not occur again. To do this, he recommends mandating background checks for any sale of any gun and reinstating the Obama-era regulation that prohibits the selling of firearms to those with mental illnesses.

Perhaps the most serious threat of all to Rep. Eliot Engel, Jonathan Lewis, decided to run against Mr. Engel because the Representative did not believe that he was serious about helping his diabetic daughter. Shortly after the Representative met with Lewis’s daughter, Mr. Lewis declared his intention to run for Rep. Engel’s House seat.

Mr. Lewis has coached Little League and served on his local board of education. He has mentored students through the Yonkers Partners in Education Program. The challenger has also served on the boards of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Westchester as well as the American Jewish Historical Society.

If elected, he will fight for education, healthcare and jobs. He will reform campaign finance by banning corporate PAC donations. He will also reject any special interest money contributed to his campaign. He calls Mr. Engel a “prime example of why our democracy is breaking.”

When his daughter met with Rep. Engel about possibly finding a cure for type-1 diabetes, she remarked that something did not seem right about the meeting. He did some follow-up research on Mr. Engel and found that he was taking money from both big sugar companies as well as big pharma companies. Mr. Lewis also found that he took funds from defense companies while voting for wars, from big banks while voting to deregulate the banks, and cable and phone providers while rates were being raised. He also missed more than 1,300 votes in the House and sponsored no major bills that became law. Mr. Lewis represents an alternative to that path.

On Criminal Justice, he wants to end the practice of mass incarceration. He believes it to be a violation of human rights. He will fight for the decriminalization of marijuana, the incentivization of states to rehabilitate and educate criminals to avoid reimprisonment, the elimination of mandatory minimum sentencing for nonviolent drug crimes, the reformation of the bail system, and the retraining of prisoners so they can hold jobs upon their release.

On Defense, the challenger believes that intelligence services should be used as an early-warning system for impending attacks. He wants to hold Pentagon and defense contractors accountable to high performance standards. Public-private partnerships that lead to innovation in the defense industry are a must for Mr. Lewis. Finally, he wants to increase intelligence sharing between federal, state, local, and tribal authorities.

On the Economy, he favors raising the minimum wage, small businesses, and investments in infrastructure. He also favors raising taxes on corporations.

On Education, Mr. Lewis is in favor of early education and the doubling of Title I funding for public schools. He also is in favor of creating Centers for Innovation at community colleges, which will provide educational design and professional development services to local schools. The challenger also favors universal access to all school activities, providing effective technology to classrooms, and free college education. Universal access to affordable childcare is also high on his list of priorities.

On the Environment, the challenger believes in climate change and that it must be combatted. In order to do this, he recommends strengthening the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), invest in mass transit, invest in clean energy, build streets with sidewalks and bike lanes, and develop sustainable agriculture practices.

On Health Care, he believes that access to quality, affordable health care, cheaper drugs and to critical health technology is a right for all Americans. To achieve this, he wants the government to provide health insurance via a single-payer system, allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, provide tax incentives and increase funding for science research that aims to find cures to disease, and allow Americans to purchase cheaper drugs from Canada. He also wants to break up big pharma companies using antitrust laws, regulate price gouging, and reduce the waiting time for the granting of patents.

Last but not least, perhaps voters preferred Joyce Briscoe. She has a degree in criminal justice and political science from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where she also minored in conflict resolution. She also is a certified paralegal, obtaining her certification from the New York Paralegal School. Her website does mention that she has worked at food pantries, on Democratic campaigns, as well as at the YMCA, but it does not mention for what campaigns or where the food pantries or the YMCA was located.

Ms. Briscoe is running because everyone in society wants the same things and has the same wants and needs. She is also running on social integration and equal opportunity. Finally, she believes her constituents believe that politicians have lost touch with their constituents.

On Criminal Justice, Joyce Briscoe recommends having a sociologist on staff at every police precinct. She also believes in limiting access to firearms to only the best on the force, protective riot gear to be used when a suspect has a non-lethal weapon, and mandatory punishment to an officer if there is a murder on their watch. She also believes that all former felons should vote and have regular check-ups with mental health professionals. Finally, she advocates for eliminating the question on many job applications that asks if the applicant has ever been convicted of a felony.

On the Economy, Ms Briscoe believes that degrees should not be required for positions that could also be filled via on-the-job training. The government should also mandate these trainings. Next, she believes that television shows should be set up to remake public housing.

She also wants to pass legislation that will prevent online application programs from discrimination because of race. She also wants to reinvent the definition of discrimination and impose more severe penalties for companies who discriminate in their hiring practices.

Finally, she believes that the welfare system, including Medicaid, food stamps, subsidized housing, and cash assistance, exists only to trap the recipients in the system. It does not provide a way to advance in society.

On Education, the challenger recommends study abroad programs, online classes, cooking classes, and keeping classroom size at a minimum. She also recommends recording teachers in high-performing schools to be used as a teaching tool for low-performing schools.

She also believes that private education loan debt should be a risk to both the loaner and the borrower. This will mean that loaner will have a vested interest in the borrower as far as career placement. She is also in favor of caps on tuition costs and alternative methods of paying off loans.

On Immigration, she believes that all beneficiaries of President Obama’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) executive order (often called the “illegal amnesty order” by Republicans) should continue to benefit from DACA and be allowed to stay in the country. Immigrants not receiving the benefits should apply on a first-come, first-served basis.

In the end, Eliot Engel won the popular vote with 73.7% of the vote. In second place was Jonathan Lewis, with 16.2% of the vote. Joyce Briscoe and Derickson Lawrence made up a combined 10.2% of the vote.