NYC election results: A surprisingly tight race in the Bronx as incumbents lead elsewhere

Democrats are embroiled in a surprisingly tight City Council race in an East Bronx district that has been solidly blue for decades.

GOP challenger Kristy Marmorato pulled ahead of Democrat incumbent Marjorie Velazquez in the 13th District on Tuesday, setting up a possible upset and clearing the way for a Republican to hold a Council seat in a borough that has long been a Democratic stronghold.

Marmorato held a 708-vote lead over Velazquez with more than 98% of election scanners counted around midnight, according to unofficial results from the city Board of Elections.

All 51 Council districts — newly redrawn with data from the latest Census — were up for grabs this year, as were district attorney seats in Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island. New York voters also weighed in on various judicial races, as well as a pair of statewide ballot proposals.

Across the city, nearly all incumbents cruised to wins or held major leads Tuesday night — with Marmorato being the major exception in the Bronx, where she’s hoping to represent a district that includes neighborhoods like Morris Park, Pelham Bay and Throggs Neck.

“I am honored and I am blessed and I am going to make you very proud of the job that I’m going to do,” Marmorato told campaign supporters around 10 p.m.

Bronx GOP Chairman Michael Rendino, Marmorato’s brother, told Politico in January that no Republican has held a Council seat in the district since 1983.

Just before midnight, results were still rolling in on these high-profile Council races

• Democrat Susan Zhuang declared victory in the three-way race to represent the newly created, Asian-majority 43rd District in Brooklyn, which includes Bensonhurst and Dyker Heights. Zhuang was leading with nearly 59% of the vote, with 99% of scanners reporting.
• Justin Brannan, a Democratic incumbent, won the 47th District in Brooklyn, according to the Associated Press. He picked up 58% of the vote with 98% of scanners reporting, declaring victory around 10 p.m. over fellow incumbent, Ari Kagan, a Democrat-turned-Republican, in a heated race that was expected to be tighter.
• In the 48th District in Brooklyn, Republican incumbent Inna Vernikov held off a challenge from Democrat Amber Adler, picking up more than 67% of the vote with 97% of scanners reporting. Vernikov’s big lead came despite her recent arrest for allegedly carrying a gun at a pro-Palestinian protest at Brooklyn College.
• Republican incumbent Vickie Paladino declared victory, picking up 60% of the vote in her rematch against Democrat Tony Avella, a former councilmember and state senator, in District 19 in Queens with 99% of scanners reporting.

“We didn’t back down,” Paladino, one of the Council’s most conservative members, said in her victory speech. “And I want to say to everybody here in this district, I thank you from the bottom of my heart. You spoke loud. Your voices were heard.”

Tuesday’s election was widely expected to have low turnout — in large part because there weren’t any higher-profile citywide or statewide elections to drive voter interest.

As of 11 p.m., New York City had counted at least 557,000 ballots across the five boroughs, according to the state Board of Elections’ unofficial results. That’s roughly 11% of the 5.1 million total registered voters in the city, though that figure will inch up as the final ballots are tabulated.

This year marked a once-every-20-year quirk in New York City’s election calendar, when all City Council districts were up for an abbreviated, off-cycle, two-year term to account for the newly drawn district maps. This year’s election is the first with new district boundaries.

Of the 51 Council races, 14 were decided in the June primary — with 11 Democrats and three Republicans running unopposed in Tuesday’s general election. That includes Yusef Salaam, a member of the exonerated Central Park Five who won a three-way Democratic primary over a pair of sitting state lawmakers.

"In my darkest moments, when seemingly the world was against the so-called Central Park Five, I never gave up hope,” said Salaam, who was wrongfully imprisoned for rape as a teenager. “And tonight, this victory represents hope for our Harlem community.”

The 47th District race in southern Brooklyn was the only one this year where two incumbents — Kagan and Brannan — ran against one another because of the recent redistricting process.

Brannan celebrated his apparent win at the Brooklyn Firefly alongside Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, city Comptroller Brad Lander and fellow Councilmember Keith Powers, who stood alongside him as he gave a victory speech.

“Tonight is really about the end of divide and conquer politics in neighborhoods that really need some representation,” Brannan said.

He continued, “Tonight the campaign ends and tomorrow the work really continues. I’m a proud Democrat but a public servant, first and foremost.”

The contentious race took a curious turn Tuesday afternoon, as Kagan’s campaign handed out pamphlets with remarks from Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the head of the Brooklyn Democratic Party Chair, who chided Brannan in a statement she released last week.

A Kagan campaign spokesperson said they printed 1,000 pamphlets to distribute among voters Tuesday.

Bichotte Hermelyn denounced the move Tuesday evening, saying in a statement, “We vehemently reject this evening’s dirty campaign trick of distributing false campaign literature pretending to be me from the Party with untrue GOP talking points.”

Brannan told Gothamist Tuesday night he recognized the challenge in facing off against another councilmember.

“This was running against an incumbent who had been elected before, who had been a district leader for many years,” he said. “It wasn’t like I was running against a nobody.”

In the 43rd District in Brooklyn, about a dozen people were scattered throughout Republican Council candidate Ying Tan's Bath Beach campaign office shortly before polls closed at 9 p.m.. A few supporters were playing cards as twangy country music played in the background, while others checked their phones and mingled.

When Gothamist shared the early, unofficial results showing Zhuang — Tan’s Democratic opponent — with a significant lead, Tan said she was "totally calm."

"No matter win or loss, I still [am] happy," Tan said. "I tried all my best."

Meanwhile, just a few blocks away, dozens of volunteers and supporters of Zhuang packed inside her campaign headquarters. By around 9:15 p.m., organizers were already grabbing sparkling cider and champagne bottles.

“We made this history together,” Zhuang said in her victory speech.

Voters in the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island also selected their district attorney for the next four years, though Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark and Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon — both Democrats — were unopposed.

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz, a Democrat, cruised to an apparent victory over Republican Michael Mossa and George Grasso, who remained on a third-party line after Katz easily defeated him in the Democratic primary.

With 97% of scanners counted, Katz had 67% of the vote, far outpacing Mossa’s 27%.

City voters also cast ballots for various judicial positions Tuesday, while voters across the state decided a pair of dense ballot proposals that have to do with borrowing limits for small-city school districts and sewage-treatment projects, respectively. With about a third of votes tallied statewide, more than 70% of voters cast their ballot in favor of both proposals.

Contributed reporting by Brigid Bergin.