The candidates

HAKEEM S. JEFFRIES

Age 41

Education Bachelor's degree in political science from SUNY Binghamton, master's degree in public policy from Georgetown University, law degree from New York University

Experience Assemblyman since 2007, former lawyer at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison law firm, clerked for a federal judge.

Political highlights Sponsored bill, which became law, to ban the NYPD from keeping an electronic database of people who were stopped and frisked by cops but not charged with a crime. Co-sponsored bill to lift the cap on charter schools.

Family life Raised in Crown Heights, now lives in Prospect Heights with his wife, Kennisandra, and two sons, ages 10 and 8.

Charles Barron

Age: 61

Education: bachelor's degree in sociology from Hunter College

Experience: Three-term City Councilman, former chief of staff to activist Rev. Herbert Daughtry of Brooklyn's House of the Lord Church, started Harlem branch of the National Black United Front, joined the Black Panther Party in 1969

Political highlights: Sponsored legislation to rename a street after radical black activist Sonny Carson, helped secure $12.5 million for East New York recreation center, waged campaigns for mayor in 2005, governor in 2010 and Congress in 2006.

Family life: Raised on Lower East Side, he currently lives in East New York with his wife, state Assemblywoman Inez Barron. They have two adult children.