Here’s who emerged in the lead after yesterday’s primary

In New York’s first primary election in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of voters cast their ballot for president, Queens borough president, Congress, State Senate, State Assembly and other important races.

Although results from election scanners came in after the polls closed at 9 p.m. last night, we’re still waiting to hear about the tens of thousands of absentee ballots that were postmarked as late as last night.

Due to the pandemic, many voters requested absentee ballots, which could swing some close races in the primary. We won’t know until sometime next week who the official winners will be.

But in the meantime, we can report, according to unofficial Board of Election tallies, who emerged in the lead before any absentee ballot is counted.

For New York’s 14th Congressional District, first-term Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who shocked the world in 2018 when she toppled longtime Congressman Joe Crowley, defeated three challengers quite easily.

As of this morning, with 96 percent of the precincts reporting, AOC had 27,460 votes, making up 72.41 percent of the total votes cast so far. The AP officially declared AOC the winner last night.

Coming in second was former CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, who was well-financed in her campaign and was offering a more moderate choice for Democrats. MCC, who moved to the district relatively recently, received 7,393 votes, good for 19.5 percent.

Badrun Khan came in third with 2,040 votes, or 5.4 percent, and Sam Sloan received 932 votes, or 2.5 percent.

In the State Senate, longtime incumbent Michael Gianaris dispatched challenger Iggy Terranova with 14,114 votes, good for 73.6 percent. Terranova, a former DSNY official, got 4,989 votes, or 26 percent, with 99 percent of precincts reporting.

Although we’re still waiting for absentee ballots, this race looks all but over.

State Senator Jessica Ramos, who represents a slice of Astoria, had no problem defeating challenger Diana Sanchez.

With 93 percent of precincts reporting, Ramos received 11,998 votes, or a whopping 84 percent. Sanchez got 2,245 votes, or 15.7 percent.

In the 36th Assembly District, which encompasses Astoria, incumbent Aravella Simotas has fallen behind challenger Zohran Kwame Mamdani. With 91 percent of precincts reporting, Simotas has 3,639 votes, good for 46.1 percent.

Mamdani, a housing counselor and first-time candidate backed by the influential Democratic Socialists of America, has 4,228 votes, good for 53.6 percent.

Though Mamdani maintains a nearly 600-vote lead, we will wait for absentee ballots to be counted before declaring a winner.

Should Mamdani win, he would make history as the first South Asian American elected to Albany.

In the race for Queens borough president, Councilman Donovan Richards is leading all candidates with 41,915 votes, good for 37.2 percent, with 96 percent of precincts reporting.

Trailing Donovan is former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, who has 31,781 votes, or 28 percent. Astoria Councilman Costa Constantinides is coming in third, with 17,164 votes, or 15 percent. Closely behind him is Anthony Miranda, with 14.7 percent, and Dao Yin, with 4.5 percent.

Though Richards is ahead by a decent margin, this is another race that will be decided by absentee ballots.

Follow us for the latest in the 2020 Democratic primary races!

You may also like...

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

AlphaOmega Captcha Classica  –  Enter Security Code