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Eric Yu

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This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.
Eric Yu
Image of Eric Yu

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments
Last election

June 24, 2025

Education

High school

Bayside High School

Bachelor's

State University of New York at Stony Brook, 2000

Graduate

City University of New York, Queens College, 2015

Military

Service / branch

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve

Years of service

1995 - 2001

Personal
Religion
Non-practicing
Profession
Budget analyst
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Campaign Instagram

Eric Yu (Democratic Party) ran for election to the New York City Council to represent District 1. He lost in the Democratic primary on June 24, 2025.

Yu completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Eric Yu served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve from 1995 to 2001. He graduated from Bayside High School. He earned a bachelor's degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 2000 and a graduate degree from City University of New York, Queens College in 2015. His career experience includes working as a budget analyst. He has been affiliated with the American Legion.[1]

Elections

2025

See also: City elections in New York, New York (2025)

General election

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

General election for New York City Council District 1

Incumbent Christopher Marte and Helen Qiu are running in the general election for New York City Council District 1 on November 4, 2025.

Candidate
Image of Christopher Marte
Christopher Marte (D / Working Families Party)
Image of Helen Qiu
Helen Qiu (R / Conservative Party)

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

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Democratic primary election

Democratic Primary for New York City Council District 1

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Christopher Marte in round 5 . The results of Round are displayed below. To see the results of other rounds, use the dropdown menu above to select a round and the table will update.

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 24,545
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Republican primary election

Republican Primary for New York City Council District 1

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Helen Qiu in round 1 .

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Conservative Party primary election

Conservative Primary for New York City Council District 1

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Helen Qiu in round 1 .

There are no incumbents in this race.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Working Families Party primary election

Working Families Primary for New York City Council District 1

The following candidates advanced in the ranked-choice voting election: Christopher Marte in round 1 .

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.

Endorsements

Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Eric Yu completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Yu's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I’m running for NYC Council District 1 to bring a fresh perspective and ensure NYC government works for all of Lower Manhattan. I am a member of Community Board 1. As the only working-class candidate, a former union member, a NYC Transit employee, and a military veteran, I understand the challenges people face. My platform is built on public safety, economic vitality, and a back-to-basics focus on city services.

I’ll fight to ensure our residents feel safe, and our businesses have an opportunity to thrive. We need to enforce existing laws within the law. We need to support our police, and keep them accountable for their actions or inaction. I want businesses to stay open at night and for people to feel secure using public transportation.

I oppose closing Rikers and building new borough-based jails. Rikers needs better management and transparency. I also oppose Congestion Pricing and believe the MTA should focus on fare evasion and reducing waste, before taxing the region it is intended to serve.

We deserve safe schools, clean streets, and reliable city services, which will retain and attract both residents and businesses. A strong and safe NYC allows residents and businesses to thrive.

Our focus must be on making city government work efficiently and effectively, instead of only creating more regulations and fines. Public safety, economic vitality, and a back-to-basics focus on city services are the path to a safe and prosperous Lower Manhattan and NYC.
  • Our city’s prosperity depends on the efficient, affordable, and reliable movement of people and goods. That means investing in and optimizing surface, subterranean, marine, and aviation infrastructure. Whether it’s ensuring timely subway and bus service, improving freight delivery routes, or upgrading ferry terminals and airport connections, the goal is to increase transportation capacity. Congestion Pricing (CP) is a de facto mobility tax on residents and businesses, and is elitist because only the wealthy will be able to travel in comfort (and safety) and speed. CP has a negative impact to NYC's economy where this increases the cost of goods and services, and will deter people and businesses from Manhattan.
  • We must uphold our duty to “help thy neighbor,” when it comes to services for homeless individuals and those struggling with mental health or substance abuse. Compassion must be paired with accountability

    • The demographics and address [existing NYC residents?] of those receiving services and the causes of homelessness; • Cost per person of provided services; and • The % of clients who ultimately transition to stable, independent living.

    Only with these data can we assess the effectiveness of these services. Propose legislation to require a 500-ft distance of any homeless shelter to a school (students under 18 years of age): the homeless shelter for 320 Pearl St (Peck Slip School) would be illegal, and would not happen to another school.
  • While reforms, especially external monitoring, of our criminal justice system are necessary, replacing Rikers Island with borough-based jails (BBJs) is not the solution. BBJs lack the capacity to meet future needs, and their proximity to densely populated neighborhoods raise public safety concerns, especially in the event of escapes or disturbances. More importantly, new buildings do not solve the real problem – mismanagement within the Department of Corrections. What’s needed is not new locations, but leadership, transparency, and operational reform. Rikers Island offers the space and separation needed to house inmates securely while addressing long-standing issues in correctional policy and oversight.
My career has been with transportation planning. I am on Community Board 1’s Transport. & Street Activities Committee. I support having multiple means of transportation for NYC, where in case of emergencies or construction, NYC will always function. During inclement and severe weather, NYC must always have several viable transportation networks. There are existing bottlenecks to the movement of people and goods. Residents and businesses need low-cost, reliable and expedient options. The NYCDOT needs to ensure major projects, such as the BQE triple cantilever is started and completed, and to use its creativity to increase transportation capacity, and to focus on the efficient, equitable, and safe movement of people and goods.
The NYC Council is not part of the state government, and therefore not part of the legal system; however, the NYC Council does make official recommendations to the NY State legislature and Governor through approved resolutions, and it does approve the budget for the NYPD, which is the law enforcement agency for NYC.
A central tenet of my political ethos is to prevent “tyranny of the majority”, where I agree with the practice of majority rule in a democracy, but I also respect the innate rights of individuals in a society, and the government (used as an instrument by special interest groups – for private gain or personal satisfaction) must not be used to control and micro-manage of every facet of a person’s life, especially when it economically harms or diminishes the quality-of-life of others. Government, and its associated rules and regulations, and its tools of enforcement (aka police powers) are necessary for law and order, and a civil society.
An elected official, in this case a NYC Council member (CM), is more than “just a job”. An elected official makes an oath to swear to support and uphold the Constitution of the United States, the Constitution of the State of New York, and the Charter of the City of New York. This position must not be driven by money, but to serve the electorate, which sometimes may be unpopular. This is a difficult situation where an elected official must represent the overall preference for the electorate and/or what is in their best long-term interest. It is essential for an elected official to always represent the people and to get things done. This requires the elected official to suppress their ego to work with and for all people, and to compromise, to achieve the greater goal. This is required to build and retain relationships with other elected officials and their staff, agency staff, and other stakeholders and community representatives.
Besides dedication to public service, fortitude, shrewdness, and an open-mind are required. It is essential to have a “conscious”, and to take into account the impact to people, as well as to respect the innate rights of citizens as individuals when establishing policy.
A NYC Council member’s (CM) official role is a legislator (composes and passes laws), and a direct representative of a city council district. Within the role of representing the district, it is also to strive for the wellbeing for the entirety of NYC. It is a requirement to know what is happening in your district, and to know what is important to your constituents at all times, such as if there are quality-of-life and business activity concerns. In District #1, there is a homeless shelter being built next door to an elementary school (Peck Slip School). The incumbent CM needed to prevent this from happening. It was the responsibility of the CM to evaluate the comprehensive and long-term impact. The CM must always be proactive in being aware of potential negative impacts by being in discussions with the Mayor, other CMs, other elected officials, and community leaders, to find alternate solutions, including compromise, and to build and lead a coalition against it. This must be done behind the scenes and ultimately in public. The goal is to protect and further the interests of your district, especially on issues if there is a multiplier effect (externalities), where it has a greater impact beyond the initial review. For example, the new homeless shelter (in contract) for Peck Slip School has many negative facets. Beyond the threat to the safety to the children of the elementary school, which is the most concerning, there is a threat to safety of the thousands of residents who live within a few hundred feet. This area is also home to Pier 17, which is a tourist and entertainment venue. I heard of residents who have already transferred their children from Peck Slip School, and other parents who stated they would ultimately move from the neighborhood. Other residents will also move, and local businesses will also suffer financially.
My first job was working at a McDonald’s, where I worked there for two months. I learned the value of money. I was not valued as an employee, and was cheated by the managers.

I worked at a busy McDonald’s which had 5-6 registers, and frequently with long lines of customers. I worked the registers, assembled orders, made drinks and made fries. It was a job where I was always standing. Sometimes I came home with burn marks on my arm from the fry cooker and hot oil. If had a 12pm-5pm or the 1pm-8pm shift, I experienced being sent home early (without pay) in case there were few customers.
At the end of my shift after I collected over a thousand dollars, the manager would reconcile the cash with the receipts. The managers always wanted faster service: the managers would often assist with the tendering of cash while we fetched the food items.

A few times, when I was short $10-$15 dollars, the managers required me to pay the difference from my own pocket (unrecorded). This was wage theft. I was only making minimum wage at the time, and the managers also had their hands in the till. When I mentioned this to my stepfather, he was upset the managers were stealing money from me. He came to the McDonald’s the next day and told the managers that I would not pay out-of-pocket anymore. After he said that, I was only assigned to cleaning the bathroom, mopping the floors, cleaning tables and kitchen equipment, and taking out the garbage. I quit the job after a week. I was fortunate not to need the money to survive. I appreciate my stepfather standing up for me.
Besides the legislative responsibilities of a NYC Council member (CM), the CM has the power to appoint half of the Community Board members in the district: the Borough President appoints the other half. The Community Board, which is an advisory-body, has official input with land-use, liquor and (now) cannabis applications. City agencies are legally required to notify Community Boards for pending changes in city services and approvals. They are the first step in community notification and to gauge community responses.
I am a member of Community Board (CB) 1 – Manhattan (since 2021), and I have first-hand experience with the wealth of community knowledge, expertise in NYC government and effort put in by these neighborhood volunteers. The appointment of CB members is a privilege and an important responsibility: the CM must really know the people and community groups of their district. It is crucial to select people with diverse and relevant professional experience; these appointees must know, understand and care for the well-being for the district. It would also be valuable, if these appointees are part of other local community groups.
It is beneficial for NYC Council members (CM) to have experience in government or politics; however, it must not be a requirement because I would not want to exclude other candidates with other experiences, which will provide a new prospective, as well as other expertise. A candidate’s cumulative, and specific experience and accomplishments must be evaluated.
A NYC Council member (CM) must have excellent communication skills – to communicate effectively and persuasively with constituents (individually or within a group – including community boards), agency officials and staff, other elected officials, the media, other community stakeholders (e.g. business owners, non-profits, religious groups, etc.).

A CM must understand the structure of the government bureaucracies, i.e., the city agencies (including authorities and corporations), NYS agencies (including authorities and corporations) and federal agencies, which impact your district through laws and regulations, or are located in your district.

A CM must be able to negotiate with any of the aforementioned stakeholders for the benefit, especially in the long-term, for the district.
A NYC Council member (CM) is the representative for the people of a district, versus borough-wide (or county) and city-wide elected positions. Unlike the federal or state governments, a locality – in this case NYC – provides the majority of government services for its residents; therefore, the CM is the people’s representative for their neighborhood in NYC government.
TBD
I am a proponent of both financial transparency and government accountability; they are both required for an informed democracy. I am a proponent of the Freedom of Information Law, where government records must be available for public review, in a timely manner, and with limited redactions for security and personal privacy. I am concerned by the recent prevalence of the request-for-proposal (RFP) procurement method, versus the lowest qualified bidder (LQB) procurement method.

Under the RFP method vendors are selected based on qualitative factors, which are inherently subjective and prone to political bias, and less price competition. The RFP process must only be used for technically complex projects and where innovation is required. Due to the complexity of the RFP process, the number of proposers (and therefore price competition) is reduced. The RFP process does not have detailed contract specifications. Without detailed contract specifications, the final product (as intended by the proposer) will not meet the actual needs of the user agency. For example, the Economic Development Corporation (through consultants) is managing the RFP for the Park Row Reconfiguration project, where the agency accepting it will be the NYCDOT and NYC Dept of Parks and Recreation: this creates different priorities where the managing agency wants to maintain the schedule and budget, but will not have to contend with the final product after the project is completed.

The LQB process ensures only the lowest qualified bidder is selected. This deters political graft because after a vendor has demonstrated technical competence (based on prior experience), the lowest bidder is awarded the contract.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

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External links

Candidate

New York City Council District 1
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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on May 26, 2025
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