People predicted this might happen. Somehow I didn't believe it. But never underestimate the power of the Democratic machine and a candidate who is smart and likable but beholden to his political mentor, Assemblyman and political power broker Vito Lopez.

I haven't been secretive about my take on Levin: he's too young and too inexperienced for the job. He's not even very charismatic. Sure, he no dummy and he has a nice personality. But all he's done is graduate from Brown University (with a major in classics), run an anti-predatory lending program in
Bushwick, and been Chief-of-Staff for Vito Lopez (in the 53rd assembly district) since 2006.

C'est tout!

But working for Lopez was Levin's smartest move. Clearly, Lopez sussed out that this was a kid with a political future.

Factor in the fact that Levin father's cousin is Carl Levin, the Senior United States Senator from Michigan and the
chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. And his
father's other cousin (and Carl's brother) is Congressman Sander Levin,
Democratic representative from the 12th congressional district in
Michigan, where he has served since 1983 and you've got a hot prospect here. A hot one!

So this Levin guy has political DNA that's for sure. And with Lopez's power and the endorsement of Senator Chuck Schumer…

It was a strategy-driven fait accompli, I guess.

This is exactly what all the other candidates in the race were afraid of. From the get-go they were convinced that Vito's kid was going to win. The trouble was they managed to split the progressive, anti-machine vote into so many pieces that there wasn't a chance for any of them: Simon, Thies, Diamondstone, Baer or Biviano to beat Levin.

And then throw Issac Abraham into the mix.

He was bound to get a lot—but not all—of Williamsburg's Hasidic votes. While quite a few of those went to Levin, Abraham managed to get a considerable number of votes and come in third place. That's pretty impressive considering he barely made appearances in Dumbo, Brooklyn Heights or Park Slope. 

But Stephen Levin worked his butt off in the months and weeks leading up to the race. I ran into him numerous times in Park Slope and Brooklyn Heights. He's a hard-working guy, there's no doubt about that—and he has basically good values. But is he strong enough to stand up to political interests, the speaker of the City Council, and moneyed developers who want to control the real estate landscape in this borough?

That remains to be seen.  At the forums and in our Breakfast-of-Candidates interview, he seemed pretty tone deaf about the kind of politician that Vito Lopez really is. He seemed stubborn in his refusal to take off his rose colored glasses about the man, who has been his mentor since 2004.

Born in 1980 (no, that is not a misprint), Levin grew
up in Plainfield, New Jersey. His father is a lawyer, who served in
Vietnam as part of the Marine Corps and his mother is an art teacher.
At home, Levin and his brother "were encouraged to be curious, open and
to follow our interests. My parents encouraged hard work and
intellectual curiosity," Levin told me.

History was also a
topic that was often discussed at home. "My dad always emphasized the
back story, the importance of history and getting the full facts. If we
were talking about the Vietnam War, he'd bring up French colonialism.
There's always more to the story."

So it's no accident that
Levin majored in classics at Brown University. "Classics gives you a
perspective. There are many parallels with modern life. History is a
great teacher," he told me.

The attacks on September 11th,
which occurred when Levin was a junior in college, convinced him that
he wanted to be involved in public life. After graduation from Brown
Levin came to NYC and searched for a job in politics or the non-profit
sector.

That's when he landed a temporary stint working on 
Lopez's re-election campaign where he "basically went out for coffee
and did clerical work." But over time he learned Lopez's approach to
campaigning which involves  "knocking on doors,  talking to as many
people as possible, the importance of having a command of the issues,
and having empathy for the people," Levin said.

After Lopez's
successful run, Levin got a job with a lead safe house program in
Bushwick. He looks back very fondly on that experience, where he was an
advocate for families whose children's blood tests revealed high and
dangerous levels of lead. The law requires that these families move out
of their homes immediately until the problem is rectified. The safe
house was needed as a temporary refuge for families who faced this
temporary dislocation. "I got very involved in people's lives and
helped to walk them through the bureaucracy."

Around that time, Levin also ran an anti-predatory lending program in
Bushwick, where, he says, he helped to organize homeowners and teach them about lending practices that were "decimating the
neighborhood with foreclosures."

In
2006, Levin became Lopez's chief of staff. "Vito trusts me and lets me
flourish on policy. He's been a tremendous help and a great teacher."
Clearly, Levin was expecting the negativity about Lopez going in to his
City Council run but he refuses to speak disparagingly of his boss and
mentor.

Levin has been canvassing the 33rd district, "from
Grand Army Plaza to Newtown Creek" since January and has learned that
there are "no short cuts to talking to people and learning what they
care about."

When Levin talks about meeting senior citizens,
his empathy for people's lives really comes through. "It's
heartbreaking. They live on fixed incomes and pensions. There's a long
waiting list for Section 8 housing. When a city is run like a business
it loses its human face. I want to help people," he says. "I see a lot
of people out there in need."

Levin describes himself as a very
practical person. "I believe that for every problem there is a solution
that is not readily apparent."