A map of New York City's State Senate districts.

It's Election Day in New York next Thursday! But instead of a titanic battle between ideologies--your Mitt Romneys vs. Barack Obamas, if you will--the options on the ballot will be little-noticed state legislative contests between candidates of the same party, often with few policy differences.

However, that doesn't mean that there aren't some exciting races happening. From "Who Gets Arrested for Raping a Grandmother?" to “Assemblywoman Caught Up in Sex Scandal with Two Young Men,” there's been no shortage of nasty drama and mud slinging as voters head to the polls.

Here's a breakdown of who's running and why it might matter who wins. The list below focuses on Democratic races because the few Republican primaries in this staunchly blue city tend to have clear favorites or are taking place in such Democratic territory that the victor is reasonably likely to be irrelevant.

So, without further ado...

Category #1: The End of the Rainbow

Four Republicans crossed the aisle to help pass gay marriage in New York last year, and three of them are running for re-election this year, Senators Mark Grisanti, Steve Saland and Roy McDonald, are all facing primary challengers that have come out on the opposite side of the marriage issue.

Advocates on both sides of the debate have invested heavily in these races, and regardless of the outcome, the results are sure to help set a national narrative about what happens to Republicans who support gay marriage. Can otherwise conservative lawmakers survive the backlash, or will their unorthodoxies topple their political careers? As state legislatures across this country consider passing gay marriage themselves, these three races could impact the discussion.

And with campaign literature like this, these races won't be short on fireworks.

Category #2: Indictment Excitement

There are a number of elected officials running for re-election with various criminal allegations hanging over their heads. If the more ethically challenged ones win and are eventually convicted of abusing their offices, the results of these races might send a depressing message about the state of the electorate. (They have all maintained their innocence.)

State Senator Shirley Huntley, who was arrested a couple weeks ago on charges that she used member items to line the pockets of her friends and family, is facing a very strong primary challenge from Councilman James Sanders. Even before Ms. Huntley's legal troubles, Mr. Sanders was mounting a credible primary challenge, as his base in Far Rockaway was drawn into her southeastern Queens district in this year's redistricting process. Mr. Sanders has also picked up support from a number of unions and the influential Rev. Floyd Flake, making this race seem like it's his to lose at this point.

Assemblyman William Boyland Jr. currently stands accused of one of the more hilarious acts of alleged official impropriety in recent memory -- taking bribes to pay for his legal bills he ran up in a separate bribery case. It's not clear if Mr. Boyland intends to fight the federal charges again or accept a plea deal, but the indictment--with wiretap evidence--seems pretty damning. Damning enough that he'd have a much harder re-election bid ahead of him if it weren't for the fact that he's facing eight (!) challengers who will split the anti-Boyland vote. With such a large field, it's difficult to get a clear read on this Brownsville and Ocean Hill-based district, but activist Tony Herbert and campaign operative Anthony Jones seems to be running some of the stronger non-Boyland campaigns.

Assemblywoman Naomi Rivera is being investigated by a small army of agencies on whether she may have illegally provided jobs to her boyfriends and used a nonprofit's funds for personal and political purposes. She faces a field of three opponents, but businessman Mark Gjonaj is running the most serious campaign of the bunch, with over $200,000 in his war chest and substantial investments in advertising and field operations. Ms. Rivera won't go down without a fight, however, and the Bronx Democratic establishment is pulling out all the stops to ensure she pulls out a victory. Will she be able to survive the barrage of bad headlines that have dogged her for the last few weeks and make it through Election Day?

Category #3: Rage Against the Machine

While Ms. Rivera's race features a classic establishment vs. insurgent dynamic, it's hardly the only one. Candidates across every borough except Staten Island are running against the folks who are currently in charge. Nowhere is this dynamic more pronounced than Brooklyn, where scandal-scarred Kings County Democratic boss Vito Lopez is still ostensibly in control and has yet to formally relinquish power. If anti-County candidates succeed, it will weaken the organizations' ability to convince mayoral contenders and other candidates they are still top dogs in this city.

District Leader Lincoln Restler is considered a rising star in Democratic politics, but before he can continue rising, he's going to have to win a tough reelection battle. Mr. Restler, a prominent critic of Mr. Lopez, would be cruising to reelection but for the fact his opponent, Chris Olechowski, is destined to receive the majority of the ballots in vote-heavy Hasidic Williamsburg. It seems like all the winds are blowing in Mr. Restler's favor, but given the bloc of votes against him, this will be a race that plenty of political observers will be following Thursday night.

Senator Martin Dilan may or may not be vulnerable, but given his close alliance with Mr. Lopez and the fact that his senate district overlaps with Mr. Lopez's assembly seat, his reelection race will serve as a test for the machine in Brooklyn's new political world. While Mr. Dilan would appear to have the edge, attorney Jason Otaño is mounting a vigorous campaign. If Mr. Otaño can make a strong showing, he could be a strong candidate in the future, at the very least.

Open Seat to replace outgoing Assemblywoman Grace Meng: A crowded field of candidates is vying to replace Ms. Meng--who left the her diverse seat based in Asian-majority Flushing to pursue a congressional campaign. The County's Democratic Party has backed Ron Kim, a former government aide and political operative, but his electoral prospects are far from clear. Ms. Meng has stayed out of the race and a number of other hopefuls, notably former City Council candidate Yen Chou, are in Mr. Kim's way. The other entrants in this unpredictable race are; Ethel Chen, Myungsuk Lee and Martha Flores-Vasquez.

Open seat to replace outgoing Assemblyman Rory Lancman: Mr. Lancman lost to Ms. Meng in her congressional race's Democratic primary and isn't pursuing reelection. His seat, like Ms. Meng's, is an Asian-majority district in northeastern Queens, but the field couldn't be more different as it features just two non-Asian candidates: community board chairman Jerry Iannece and former assembly chief of staff Nily Rozic. Queens Democrats are pushing hard for Mr. Iannece, and he would seem to be favored as a result. However, Ms. Rozic has picked up a number of notable endorsements, including The New York Times and various unions, creating a genuine horse race between the two.

State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, who's also running for reelection in a Queens district that has been reconfigured to be Asian-majority, shouldn't really be that vulnerable without any major blunders in office and a reliably Democratic voting record. However, she only won 45 percent of the vote  in 2010 against two challengers. With a district that now includes new areas, she's facing a rematch against one of her 2010 foes, John Messer. Mr. Messer, a businessman and attorney, has his placed his personal wealth in the campaign too, to the tune of $500,000. Ms. Stavisky, with close ties to her senate colleagues and Queens County, has been doing plenty of her own fundraising and running an aggressive campaign, however.

Open seat to replace outgoing Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries: Mr. Jeffries is on his way to become Brooklyn's next congressman and he's leaving a vacant Fort Greene and Clinton Hill-based district behind him. Three contenders are hoping to replace him; Walter Mosley, Ola Alabi and Martine Guerrier. Mr. Mosley has the support of Mr. Jeffries, who has a strong base in the district, but Ms. Alabi has been racking up endorsements and doesn't appear to be someone who can be easily counted out. Ms. Guerrier recently earned the endorsement of The Times and could potentially make an electoral mark of her own come Election Day.

Open seat: Pretty much everyone and their mother has endorsed community board chairman Brad Hoylman to replace retiring Senator Tom Duane in his Midtown-based district, but businessman Tommy Greco is hoping he can make a dent with the help of the storied McManus Club. It wold be a pretty surprising upset for Mr. Greco to pull off a victory, however.
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Category #4: Demographic Pressures

Like it or not, voting patterns often correspond with with ethnicity and political candidates often seek to take advantage of this fact. Some incumbents hold on year after year in districts that don't exactly look like them, while others have seen their districts change beneath their feet since they were first elected. Sometimes it all comes down to the political talents of the incumbents, while in other cases, there just might not be a path to victory anymore.

Assemblyman Steve Cymbrowitz is facing a challenge from Ben Akselrod in a race that could demonstrate electoral power of southeastern Brooklyn's Russian-speaking community. Mr. Akselrod, who started off with a strong campaign, stumbled a bit lately when he release a campaign mailer that referred to crime going up in the "negrohood," a mistake that generated local and national coverage. Whoever wins will be one of the more vulnerable Democratic candidates in the city, as the district's Russian and Orthodox Jews communities are increasingly trending conservative at the ballot box.

In a race that will test demographic realities to their very limit, veteran Assemblywoman Rhoda Jacobs is hoping she can be successfully reelected again in a district that is only 15% white. She is facing a serious challenge from District Leader Rodneyse Bichotte, who is of Caribbean descent. Ms. Jacobs, a high-ranking member of the State Assembly, is hoping for high turnout in the district's observant Jewish community.

Assemblyman Mike Miller is running for reelection in a district that contains Woodhaven and is plurality Latino. He faces off against Etienne David Adorno, who seems to be mounting a spirited campaign. If Mr. Miller's fundraising were just a tad stronger, this might not be a race to watch, but his campaign war chest is fairly weak for an incumbent.
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Category #5: Odds & Ends

There are some races to keep your thumb on that might not fit into an overarching narrative, but could still be well-worth watching for various reasons. More details below.

State Senator Adriano Espaillat, who narrowly lost a campaign against veteran Rep. Charlie Rangel earlier this year, is now running for reelection and facing a Rangel-backed challenger in Guillermo Linares. Mr. Linares, who's been endorsed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and The New York Times, hasn't been holding his own in fundraising, but Mr. Espaillat has been spending lots of money and would appear to have the edge in this Washington Heights and West Side-based district. Mr. Espaillat is a leading contender for Mr. Rangel's seat in 2014, but his political career could be nipped in the bud if Mr. Linares is able to pull off an upset.

Open seat: With Mr. Linares' challenge to Mr. Espaillat, there's a new vacant Assembly district on the northern tip of Manhattan, and several contenders, including Mr. Linares' daughter Mayra Linares, are hoping to replace him. The other candidates include Assembly aide Gabriela Rosa and former candidate Ruben Vargas. Ms. Rosa, who is backed by Mr. Espaillat, and Ms. Linares, who is obviously being supported by her father, would appear to be the frontrunners. How much Mr. Espaillat and Mr. Linares can impact this race is unknown, however, as both may be focused on their own rivalry.

Councilman Charles Barron has made headlines in recent years with provocative campaigns for governor and congress, both of which he lost badly. However, Mr. Barron is not ready to exit stage right just yet. Insiders believe Mr, Barron and his wife, Assemblywoman Inez Barron, may intend to switch offices  and keep their respective seats in the family when he is term-limited in 2013. First, Ms. Barron will have to succeed in her own re-election bid against Chris Banks.

Moshe and Avraham Tischler, brothers who are 20 and 21 years old respectively, are challenging incumbent Assemblyman Dov Hikind and frontrunner State Senate candidate Simcha Felder for two overlapping Brooklyn seats. While neither is especially likely to win, should they post strong showings, it could be taken as a sign of weakness for the two establishment pols they're opposing, as well as the Orthodox Jewish political establishment at-large. Mr. Hikind doesn't have a GOP opponent but Mr. Felder is running against incumbent Republican Senator David Storobin, and he'll need Democrats on his side in the general election.

Assemblywoman Barbara Clark's ethical issues aren't quite enough to land her in the "Indictment Excitement" category, but attorney Clyde Vanel is running an active campaign and is hoping that voter dissatisfaction could lead to an upset in her eastern Queens district.
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Veteran Assemblyman Nick Perry shouldn't necessarily be vulnerable, but his opponent, attorney and community board chairman Terry Hinds, has a relatively strong profile.
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Well, there you have it. For those who really want to get into the weeds, there are also a number of competitive court races across the city. Otherwise, this list should be more than enough to keep you busy on Election Day. Politicker, of course, will be up late into the night following the results.

(photo: jasonotano.com)

Jason Otaño, currently the General Counsel to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, will launch his state senate campaign against Martin Dilan next Thursday with the backing of Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez and Councilwoman Diana Reyna. The move sets up yet another match between the county's Democratic organization, led by Assemblyman Vito Lopez, and those who oppose his rule.

This reoccurring theme most recently played out when Mr. Dilan's son Erik challenged Ms. Velázquez, resulting in an election last week where he was soundly beaten. Ms. Velázquez performed well even in Dilan territory, which surely emboldened Mr. Otaño and his supporters. However, defeating an incumbent is never an easy task, and he starts out as the underdog in the race.

Joining the aspiring state senator at his kickoff event are a number of other foes of Mr. Lopez, including District Leader Lincoln Restler -- who will have his fate decided on the same September 13th date as Mr. Otaño this year -- and two candidates for the City Council in 2013, Jesus Gonzalez and Antonio Reynoso.

Mr. Gonzalez made headlines in 2011 by running against Erik Dilan's chief of staff Rafael Espinal in a high profile special election for the State Assembly. Mr. Espinal, who ran with the strong support of Mr. Lopez and the Dilan family, ultimately won that election.

As a side note, in addition to the physical campaign launch, Mr. Otaño has already set up his online presence, launching a website and Facebook page.

He sent an aide instead, who gamely passed out letters from the congressman with a clip-art illustration of the U.S. Capitol, on which Mr. Towns had written: "More than anything, I want us to return to the glory days when our Borough commanded the respect that we deserve as the largest Democratic county in the United States."

Mr. Towns, the state's second-most senior congressman, was trying to regain a measure of respect for himself, too.

He had put his name forward as a district leader—an obscure, unpaid, intraparty post, usually the province of ambitious youngsters, or a fiefdom for the well-entrenched to bulwark their political support—in an effort to keep the job in the family, after his son, Darryl, had vacated the post to serve as the state's housing commissioner.

Challenging Mr. Towns was Erik Dilan, a city councilman whose father, State Senator Martin Dilan, once worked for the congressman. In the intervening years, the Dilans aligned themselves with Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Vito Lopez, and the two political families have been locked in a dispute so long-running that no one can quite recall how it began.

"They detest each other," said one longtime Towns confidante. "It's like the Hatfields and McCoys right now—a deep family blood feud."

It's a feud that could threaten Mr. Towns's long-standing status as a Central Brooklyn power broker and endanger the congressional seat he has held, rather precariously, since 1983. The families' most recent clash was set off when Mr. Towns's son, Darryl, left for the Cuomo administration, abandoning the seat he had held for 19 years in the State Assembly and relinquishing his district leader post.

As charmingly, maddeningly, still happens in the ward boss precincts of Brooklyn, the Townses and the Dilans met at a local restaurant to hash out how the open seats might be divvied between them. According to representatives from both families, the Townses wanted Erik Dilan to run for Darryl's Assembly seat, giving up his Council seat and allowing the Townses to run one of their own for the City Council. And, of course, Ed Towns would be able to run unopposed for the district leader job, setting him up to one day become head of the county party should the anti-Lopez factions settle on a candidate.

But the Dilans had no incentive to negotiate, and the deal fell apart, setting of a pitched proxy battle for a handful of local offices between members of the Towns family and forces aligned with the Dilans.

"It's a little bit shocking that the ultimate back-room dealers couldn't cut a deal," said one party official. "Vito and the Dilans at the end of the day said, 'We don't need him.' They'd rather beat him than cut a deal with him."

In Bensonhurst they did just that. While Mr. Towns was busy helping his daughter's campaign for his son's old seat, Mr. Dilan was at the door, greeting the district leaders with a warm handshake and a kiss on the cheek. After an hour of speeches, a roll call vote was held, a cheer went up, and Mr. Lopez asked the assembled partisans: "Should we welcome our newest district leader?" A bouncer unlocked the bolted door—no press or outsiders were allowed inside—and Erik Dilan took his seat among the party brass.

By that point, the rain had begun to fall in earnest, and Mr. Towns's young aide had taken a car home.

The final tally: Erik Dilan, 36; Ed Towns, 10. Only a few anti-Lopez reformers and a handful of party officials from his home district backed a man who, just a few years ago, chaired the powerful Oversight Committee in the House of Representatives.

"If there ever was a sign that the knives were out for Ed Towns, that was it," said one longtime neighborhood political operative. "When the insiders, when people you've known for 30 years, are willing to publicly not support you and are not worried about the repercussions, it is a pretty dramatic sign that you need to be evaluating the ground that you stand on."

In truth, the knives have been out for Ed Towns for a long time. In 2005, Nancy Pelosi threatened to strip him of his committee assignments after he was inexplicably absent from a key budget vote that Democrats narrowly lost. ("People miss budget votes all the time," Mr. Towns said by way of explanation.) He still hasn't lived down his support for the Central American Free Trade Act, which most Democrats decried as hurting American workers. And, after Republicans took control of the House in January, the White House conspired with congressional leaders to push Mr. Towns from his perch as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, in favor of someone more pugnacious. (Mr. Towns said that he gave up the gavel voluntarily.)

At home, he has never been a beloved neighborhood presence like Charlie Rangel, or someone who can turn policy positions into major media stories like a Jerry Nadler or an Anthony Weiner. Earlier this year, in a video posted on YouTube and passed around Central Brooklyn political circles, a Towns staffer was heckled at a community board meeting when she insisted that the neighborhood they were in was Williamsburg—when, in fact, it was Bedford-Stuyvesant.

So, unlike the rest of the New York delegation, Mr. Towns is perpetually fending off primary threats. As far back as 1988, a little-known Pakistan-born pharmacist got nearly 25 percent of the vote against him. In 1998, Mr. Towns won just over 50 percent of the vote against Barry Ford, a Harvard-educated lawyer close to the Clintons. In 2006, he received even less than that in a three-way race that included City Councilman and former Black Panther Charles Barron. And, in the last two primaries, a former star of MTV's The Real World, Kevin Powell, earned almost a third of the vote.

Mr. Towns has been able to hang on, politicos say, thanks to a fine-tuned political sense and even more fine-tuned control over the redistricting process. But that skill might be less insulating, as his district becomes more Latino, more white and more middle class.

And Mr. Towns's increasingly wobbly position as a Brooklyn power broker could invite more credible challengers. As the deal with the Dilans was falling apart, Hakeem Jeffries—a young assemblyman long viewed as a comer in Brooklyn political circles—quietly opened a congressional exploratory committee. Mr. Jeffries has been cautiously courting the party's leadership while broadening his outreach to anti-Lopez reformers, and with a degree in public policy from Georgetown and a pedigree that includes a stint at the white-shoe law firm of Paul, Weiss, he could appeal to many of the district's new residents.

Mr. Towns said he isn't concerned.

"It doesn't bother me at all. He's ambitious and that's it," Mr. Towns told The Observer. "There have been other ambitious folks. I can give you their names. Some of them were pretty bright, too."

Mr. Barron and Mr. Powell have each been making noise about a rematch, and once the new district lines are drawn, a host of ambitious young legislators could suddenly find themselves in the district of a long-serving congressman who seems to have lost his touch.

In the meantime, the next measure of Mr. Towns's muscle will be the summer-long, all-out campaign to install his daughter, Deidra, in his son's old Assembly seat, over a challenge from Erik Dilan's chief of staff, Rafael Espinal. Mr. Towns is determined to see Deidra win. The family has hired Democratic uberstrategist Hank Sheinkopf to advise her campaign, and her opponents expect her father to lean on his congressional fund-raising network.

"If his daughter loses that race, there will be a lot of talk about the strength of the Townses' power," said one politico connected to the Dilans. "If you keep winning, people think of you as a winner. If he loses, the ministers and local leaders start to get a sense of vulnerability. That could create a groundswell."

Mr. Towns said that the results last week—a vote of party insiders largely chosen by Mr. Lopez—will have no bearing on his daughter's race. The voters, he says, will show how much the Towns family still matters in Brooklyn.

"This is going to be something you take to the people. That was like trying to win in Atlantic City—the fix was in," Mr. Towns said. "People know the name. They know the name Towns. So even though you have challenges, I'll be ready."

dfreedlander@observer.com