Jun. 28, 2023 By Christian Murray
Two political newcomers, one in Harlem and the other in southeast Brooklyn, are on the verge of defeating establishment candidates in the Democratic primaries in their respective districts.
Yusuf Salaam, a member of the Exonerated Five, has a commanding lead in his quest to win the Democratic nomination for the 9th Council District seat covering Harlem, according to preliminary results released by the Board of Elections.
Meanwhile, first-time candidate Chris Banks is ahead of City Council Member Charles Barron in the Democratic primary for Brooklyn’s 42nd Council District.
The two races were the highlight of an election day, marked by low voter turnout and few surprises. By 6 p.m. Tuesday only 149,484 people had cast their ballots—either on the day or during early voting.
Still, the 9th District race, for the open seat that is being vacated by Councilmember Kristen Richardson Jordan, saw the highest turnout of any City Council election Tuesday.
Salaam is likely to win the Harlem seat, and in doing so defeating Assembly Member Inez Dickens, a political heavyweight who has held city and state seats in the area for more than 20 years.
Salaam, as of 12:25 a.m. Wednesday, had more than 50% of the vote, and a 2,764-vote lead over Dickens, who’s running in second. In third place is Assembly Member Al Taylor with 1,590 votes.
Turning to Brooklyn’s 42nd Council District, Barron finds himself in danger of losing his party’s nomination for re-election. Banks, a community organizer, currently has more than 50% of the votes– with 3,011 votes — good for a 437-vote lead on the incumbent Barron.
One district that drew attention was the newly drawn 43rd District seat in South Brooklyn, which was created due to redistricting. There were primary races for both the Democratic and Republican parties for the seat, which is now a majority-Asian district.
Susan Zhuang, the former chief of staff to Assemblymember William Colton, is likely to secure the Democratic nomination bringing in 58% of the votes, according to the Board of Elections, with 97.8% of the scanners reporting. Meanwhile, Ying Tang is on the verge of winning the Republican nomination for the seat.
The three council races were the most noteworthy in an election where the incumbents won. Only about a third of the districts had contests in this primary cycle, with the unopposed incumbents or party nominees automatically advanced to the November general election.
In western Queens, incumbents Tiffany L. Cabán (District 22), Shekar Krishnan (District 25) and Julie Won (District 26) were big winners Tuesday — while in central and eastern Queens incumbent Democrats Linda Lee (District 23), Lynn Schulman (District 29) and Jennifer Gutierrez (District 34) are likely to glide to victory.
In Brooklyn, the incumbent Democrat Darlene Mealy seems to have repelled a challenge from three Democrats, while in Manhattan, Christopher Marte (District 1), Carlina Rivera (District 2) and Carmen De La Rosa (District 10) cruised to easy wins. Meanwhile, Marjorie Velazquez (District 13) also fended off several challengers.
Tuesday’s primary also included two district attorney races, one in the Bronx and the other Queens, where voters chose the incumbents in their respective Democratic primaries. Bronx DA Darcel Clark and Queens DA Melinda Katz both won easily.
While the district attorney contests were determined by standard votes, the City Council elections used ranked-choice voting, with voters picking their candidates in the preferred order of choice.
With this system, if no one candidate earns a majority of votes in the first round, the Board of Elections will turn to the votes of lesser, eliminated choices until a candidate has secured a majority.
Some of the races will go to ranked choice voting, based on the preliminary results— including the Republican nomination for the 13th District in the Bronx, where Kristy Marmorato and George Havranek are separated by less than 100 votes; and the Democratic nomination for the 19th District in Queens, where another political veteran, Tony Avella, is facing a serious threat from former prosecutor Christopher Bae.
Projected winners are indicated with a √ sign next to the name.
District Attorney
Bronx (92.38% scanners reported)
| √-Darcel Clark (i) | 72.57% (19,800) |
| Tess Cohen | 26.84% (7,324) |
Queens (95.47% scanners reported)
| √-Melinda Katz (i) | 70.81% (41,859) |
| George Grasso | 14.37% (8,497) |
| Devian Daniels | 14.09% (8,330) |
Key City Council Races
1st District (Manhattan) (93.02% scanners reported, 1st choice)
| √-Christopher Marte (i) | 63.35% (5,053) |
| Susan Lee | 30.17% (2,406) |
| Ursila Jung | 5.19% (414) |
| Pooi Stewart | 1.02% (81) |
2nd District (Manhattan) (95.15% scanners reported)
| √-Carlina Rivera (i) | 60.03% (4,212) |
| Allie Ryan | 39.09% (2,743) |
9th District (Manhattan) (95.28% scanners reported, 1st choice)
| Yusef Salaam | 50.2% (5,316) |
| Inez Dickens | 25.08% (2,656) |
| Al Taylor | 14.22% (1,506) |
| Kristin Richardson Jordan (i) | 9.47% (1,003) |
10th District (Manhattan) (95.83% scanners reported)
| √-Carmen De La Rosa (i) | 84.58% (4,696) |
| Guillermo Perez | 12.77% (709) |
13th District (Bronx, Democratic) (93.4% scanners reported, 1st choice)
| √-Marjorie Velazquez (i) | 65.47% (2,450) |
| Bernadette Ferrara | 19.8% (741) |
| Irene Estrada | 7.3% (273) |
| John Perez | 2.46% (92) |
13th District (Bronx, Republican) (93.4% scanners reported, 1st choice)
| Kristy Marmorato | 47.38% (851) |
| George Havranek | 44.27% (795) |
| Samantha Zherka | 8.02% (144) |
19th District (Queens) (98.68% scanners reported, 1st choice)
| Tony Avella | 38.97% (2,243) |
| Christopher Bae | 36.81% (2,119) |
| Paul Graziano | 23.66% (1,362) |
23rd District (Queens) (96.7% scanners reported, 1st choice)
| √-Linda Lee (i) | 62.57% (3,797) |
| Steve Behar | 29.25% (1,775) |
| Rubaiya Rahman | 7.4% (449) |
26th District (Queens) (98.97% scanners reported)
| √-Julie Won (i) | 61.08% (3,573) |
| Hailie Kim | 37.73% (2,207) |
29th District (Queens) (94.29% districts reported, 1st choice)
| Lynn Schulman (i) | 53.4% (3,044) |
| Ethan Felder | 34.63% (1,974) |
| Sukhi Singh | 11.14% (635) |
41st District (Brooklyn) (95.1% scanners reported, 1st choice)
| √-Darlene Mealy (i) | 61.99% (2,639) |
| Isis McIntosh Green | 29.25% (1,245) |
| Reginald Bowman | 4.82% (205) |
| Joyce Shearin | 3.48% (148) |
42nd District (Brooklyn) (99% districts reported, 1st choice)
| Chris Banks | 50.54% (3,010) |
| Charles Barron (i) | 43.2% (2,573) |
| Jamilah Rose | 5.39% (321) |
43rd District (Brooklyn) (91.58% districts reported, 1st choice)
| Susan Zhuang | 58.8% (1,962) |
| Wai-Yee Chan | 30.96% (1,033) |
| Stanley Ng | 9.38% (313) |