NYC Primary Election Results Stall As Absentee Ballots Roll In

NEW YORK CITY — New Yorkers faced extreme obstacles Tuesday when they tried to cast their votes for city, state and federal primaries, but vote they did.

Despite snaking lines, broken scanners and missing absentee ballots, New York City Democrats took to the polls to decide who they want to represent them in the U.S. Congress, state Senate, Assembly and in Queens Borough Hall.

Polls closed at 9 p.m. but results could take days to come in as the Board of Election works to count more than 700,000 absentee ballots, submitted as the new coronavirus crisis kept many New Yorkers at home.

As of 11 p.m. Tuesday, most races could not be called. This story will be updated as results are known.

BROOKLYN

CONGRESSIONAL RACE

District 7

Paperboy Prince, a rap star whose went viral due to their devotion to former presidential candidate Andrew Yang, challenged incumbent Nydia Velazquez, Chairwoman of the House Small Business Committee, and the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992.

Winner: Nydia Velazquez is the predicted winner, although with absentee ballots yet to be counted, Paperboy Prince told Patch Wednesday they're "not conceding at all."

District 9

Incumbent Yvette Clarke faced challenges from Adem Bunkeddeko, Brooklyn Council member Chaim Deutsch, Flatbush business owner Lutchi Gayot and housing organizer and retired U.S. Army veteran Isiah James.

Result: Clarke took about 62 percent of the initial votes — a clear lead over four other Democrats in the 9th District primary — but while some news outlets declared her the winner, neither the Associated Press nor Clarke had declared victory as of Wednesday morning. [Read more.]

ASSEMBLY RACE

District 43

Ousted Brooklyn state Senator Jesse Hamilton faced a take-no-prisoners fight from incumbent Assembly Member Diana Richardson, who likes to call the former lawmaker "Shamilton."

Winner: TBD

District 56

Community activist Justin Cohen and Stefani Zinerman, a community advocate and staffer for state Sen. Velmanette Montgomery, both hoped to claim the seat left vacant by Tremaine Wright, currently running for state Senate.

Winner: TBD

STATE SENATE RACE

District 25

Jabari Brisport, Jason Salmon and New York Assembly member Tremaine Wright hope to scoop up Sen. Velmanette Montgomery's seat when she retires.

Winner: TBD

MANHATTAN

CONGRESSIONAL RACES

District 10

Incumbent Jerry Nadler, who has served in Congress since 1992, faced challenges from former Cuomo special advisor Lindsey Boylan and Jonathan Herzog, a founding member of presidential candidate Andrew Yang's campaign.

Result: Nadler declared victory for himself with 60 percent of the vote at about 11 p.m., but this was not confirmed.

District 12

Incumbent Carolyn Maloney faced off against former Obama Administration staffer Suraj Patel, data analyst Lauren Ashcraft and CUNY professor Peter Harrison.

Winner: TBD

District 13

Incumbent Adriano Espaillat faced off against entrepreneur and proponent of universal basic income James Felton Keith and Corporate Etiquette consultant Ramon Rodriguez.

Winner: The Associated Press called the race for Espaillat on Tuesday night. Unofficial results from the city Board of Elections showed the incumbent with a comfortable 57 percent of the vote by the end of Tuesday night.

ASSEMBLY RACE

District 73

Incumbent Dan Quart faced off against recent Yale graduate and LeFrak family descendant Cameron Koffman.

Winner: TBD

STATE SENATE RACES

District 27

Brad Hoylman faced off against Elizabeth Glass, a first-time challenger and teacher from the East Village.

Result: Hoylman held a clear lead Wednesday afternoon with about 67 percent of 17,000 votes counted. [Read more.]

District 31

Incumbent state Sen. Robert Jackson competed against Tirso Santiago Pina, a challenger from Washington Heights who also ran against Jackson in 2018.

Winner: Jackson held a clear lead Tuesday night with about 78 percent of votes counted. [Read more.]

QUEENS

QUEENS BOROUGH PRESIDENCY

Democrats voted on their candidate to replace former Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, who recently took office as Queens district attorney at the start of the year, and go up against Queens GOP Chair Joann Ariola in November's general election.

Candidates included City Council Members Costa Constantinides and Donovan Richards, former Council Member Elizabeth Crowley, retired NYPD sergeant Anthony Miranda, and Dao Yin, a businessman from Bayside.

Winner: TBD

CONGRESSIONAL RACES

District 5

Incumbent Gregory Meeks faced a challenge from community activist, rugby player and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Shaniyat Chowdhury.

Winner: TBD

District 6

Incumbent Grace Meng faced challenges from Sandra Choi, former director of economic development for Detroit's economic development agency, and a former congressional aide for U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, Mel Gagarin.

Winner: TBD

District 14

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faced off against former CNBC anchor Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and Badrun Khan, a financial controller who serves as a member of Queens Community Board 2.

Winner: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

ASSEMBLY RACES

District 36

Incumbent Aravella Simotas raced against challenger Zohran Mamdani, a first-time candidate, foreclosure prevention counselor and a member of the Queens branch of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Winner: TBD

District 37

Incumbent Catherine Nolan faced challenges from Danielle Brecker, a lead organizer for Empire State Indivisible, and Mary Jobaida.

Winner: TBD

STATE SENATE RACE

District 12

Incumbent Michael Gianaris raced against challenger Iggy Terranova, an Astoria resident and retired sanitation worker.

Result: Gianaris claimed victory for himself about 10 p.m., but this victory was not confirmed.

BRONX

CONGRESSIONAL RACE

District 15

Democrat Reverend Rubén Díaz Sr., a problematic city council member with a history of making anti-gay comments and recently embroiled in a sexual harassment scandal, faces off against a whopping 11 candidates hoping to get a more progressive Democrat in office. Among the top contenders are Council Member Richie Torres and Melissa Mark-Viverito, former City Council speaker.

Result: Torres declined to claim victory when, at 10:45 p.m., he had more than 30 percent of the vote, more than double Diaz's 14 percent.

District 16

New York City teacher and progressive Jamaal Bowman fought a hard race against incumbent, and House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman, Eliot Engel.

Result: Bowman delivered a victory speech shortly after 10:30 p.m. at which point he had about 61 percent of the votes, but this victory was not confirmed.

CORRECTION: The original version of this article misidentified Paperboy Prince's pronouns. The author extends a sincere apology for the error.