Politics & Government
Brooklyn District 36 City Council Race: Chi Ossé Takes Early Lead
Ossé's lead is based only on people's first choices, and only for votes cast in-person. Full results will likely take weeks.
BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — Local activist Chi Ossé has taken an early lead as the first-choice, in-person votes roll in for Brooklyn's 36th District City Council primary race, according to election night results.
As with most races in the June 22 primary, official winners will likely not be declared Tuesday given the new ranked-choice voting system, but first-choice, in-person picks had been tallied in some races across the five boroughs.
In the 36th District, Ossé held a strong lead with more than 37 percent of the vote as Wednesday morning, when 100 percent of in-person precincts had reported their votes, according to NY1.
Find out what's happening in Bed-Stuyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Tied for second place were Community Board 3 District Manager Henry L. Butler and Tahirah Moore, a former City Council and mayoral staffer, who both had 22.9 percent of the vote as of Wednesday morning, numbers show.
A total of five candidates were on the ballot to replace the term-limited Council Member Robert E. Cornegy Jr., who was running to become the next borough president.
Find out what's happening in Bed-Stuyfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The other candidates include Community pastor and substitute teacher Robert Waterman and local business owner Reginald Swiney.
The race most recently made headlines when since-deleted offensive Tweets sent out by Ossé last year were uncovered by the New York Post. Ossé has since apologized for the Tweets — which targeted women, religious groups and others — but some of his opponents have not been satisfied with his response.
The funding race remained close between four of the candidates up until primary day. As of the latest filing with the city's Campaign Finance Board, Ossé held a slight lead, with nearly $229,000 of combined private and public funds raised. Moore, Waterman and Butler had all also raised more than $200,000, records show.
Insight into where four of the candidates stand on local issues like police reform, crime and rising rents raised in a Patch neighborhood survey can be found here. Three out of the four filled out questionnaires for a profile on Patch:
Reginald Swiney could not be reached for either of the questionnaires.
Find a full list of races NYC Patch is following here.
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