Political strategist Basil Smikle will be challenging incumbent State Senator Bill Perkins for the District 30 seat in Harlem this fall. Smikle, who has worked with Hillary Clinton and Mayor Bloomberg, told the Daily News, "I don't like the way that [Perkins] has pitted residents of upper Manhattan against one another. I want to try to tone down the rhetoric....I don't see him doing that. He seems to be stoking the fears and anxieties of the community, and that's something that I don't like to see happening in my neighborhood."

Smikle supports charter schools, which Perkins does not. Smikle spoke to the Post about how Perkins opposed increasing the charter school cap, "This is the second time the senator has stopped New York from getting $700 million in federal funding... Education reform has galvanized the community." But Perkins' stance has earned him the support of the teachers union.

The owner of Londel's restaurant, Londel Davis, is in Smike's court, "Basil Smikle is the best man for the job the same way that Barack Obama is the best man for the job. Bill Perkins is about Bill Perkins. Perkins has become politics as usual." The Post also asked Smikle about his motorcycle, a Yamaha 1600, "I get a feeling of freedom. It's very a liberating feeling to be on a powerful bike."