You are reading

Jessica González-Rojas Wins Jackson Heights Assembly Seat, Incumbent Michael DenDekker Concedes

Jessica González-Rojas (votejgr)

July 17, 2020 By Allie Griffin

Progressive newcomer Jessica González-Rojas has won the Democratic primary for the 34th Assembly District seat, with incumbent Michael DenDekker conceding today.

Assembly Member DenDekker congratulated González-Rojas for winning the race and wished her the best in representing the district which covers Jackson Heights, East Elmhurst and parts of Woodside and Corona. He also wrote a light-hearted post on Facebook that read, “The cat’s out of the bag!”

González-Rojas led DenDekker, who has held the seat for 12 years, by more than 1,000 votes on election night. She took roughly 40 percent of in-person votes on the day of the June 23 primary, compared to DenDekker’s 23 percent.

However, the tally didn’t include the thousands of absentee ballots sent to the Board of Elections (BOE) amid the coronavirus pandemic.

BOE officials counted the absentee votes for the district today, although the board has not publicly released the results.

González-Rojas’ campaign, however, confirmed that she held her 40 percent lead after mail-in ballots were tallied. In doing so, she also defeated labor leader Joy Chowdhury, former prosecutor Nuala O’Doherty-Naranjo and Angel Cruz in the five-way primary.

She will go on to compete in the November primary election — where she is likely to cruise to victory in the largely Democratic district.

González-Rojas, the former executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health, thanked DenDekker on Twitter.

“Thank you for your years of public service, @mgdendekker!” she wrote. “I look forward to working with you as an Assembly Member to bring progressive change to our communities!”

She also issued a statement.

“I am both humbled and thrilled by the trust placed in me by the people of Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Woodside,” González-Rojas wrote. “This victory is the culmination and sum total of a broad and diverse coalition that set out to build a grassroots campaign on people-powered solutions to the challenges facing our communities.”

Her victory marks another win for the progressive branch of the Democratic party in Queens.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.


The reCAPTCHA verification period has expired. Please reload the page.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

Suspect wanted for shoving E train rider onto the tracks at Sutphin Boulevard station in Jamaica: NYPD

Police from the 103rd Precinct in Jamaica and Transit District 20 are looking for a suspect who shoved an E train rider onto the tracks at the Sutphin Boulevard-Archer Avenue–JFK Airport subway station on Thursday morning.

The 39-year-old victim was standing on the southbound platform at around 4:40 a.m. when a stranger approached him and pushed him onto the track bed below in an unprovoked attack, police said Friday. The suspect fled the station onto Sutphin Boulevard and ran off in an unknown direction. EMS responded to the scene and transported the injured man to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition.

Bellerose man arrested in fatal collision that killed his neighbor on Jericho Turnpike in December: NYPD

A Bellerose man was arrested and booked at the 105th Precinct in Queens Village on Tuesday, May 20, five months after he struck and killed his 78-year-old neighbor with his vehicle at the intersection of Jericho Turnpike and 91st Avenue.

The fatal collision occurred just after 6:40 p.m. on Saturday, December 14, 2024, as Benjamin Jean-Baptiste, 39, of Ontario Road, was behind the wheel of a 2010 Dodge Ram pickup truck traveling northbound on 91st Avenue.

Robbery suspect flees courthouse mid-trial, convicted of holding woman at knifepoint in Flushing: DA

A Flushing fugitive failed to return to court before trial and was convicted in absentia on Monday for a violent armed robbery of a young woman at her Parsons Boulevard apartment with two accomplices in 2022.

Michael Fan, 25, of Farrington Street, was found guilty of multiple burglary and robbery counts and an unlawful imprisonment charge before Queens Supreme Court Justice Gary Miret on May 19.