Menin Likely Winner In UES City Council Race As Rival Concedes

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Julie Menin is set to win the hard-fought City Council primary on the Upper East Side after the latest ranked-choice voting results released late Friday showed her with a sizeable lead over her closest rival, Tricia Shimamura.

Menin declared victory just after 11 p.m. Friday after the latest vote counts showed her holding a 2,000-vote lead over Shimamura in the final ranked-choice round, once the other five Democratic candidates had been eliminated. Those incomplete results do not include more than 5,600 absentee ballots that have yet to be counted in District 5.

Still, Shimamura acknowledged Saturday morning that "the latest ranked choice reallocation shows us coming short of what we needed to win," given that absentees would have to lean heavily in her favor.

Menin is overwhelmingly favored in November's general election against Republican Mark Foley. Incumbent Ben Kallos, who is term-limited, lost to fellow Councilmember Mark Levine in the race for Manhattan Borough President.

WE DID IT!

The results released tonight and what we've seen of my lead on absentee ballots decisively confirm that I’ll be headed to the City Council to represent the 5th District! pic.twitter.com/BzoAJxQ2ZA
— Julie Menin (@JulieMenin) July 3, 2021

By electing Menin, Upper East Side voters chose the candidate with the heftiest resume in the field. She most recently served as census director, helping New York City achieve its better-than-expected count, and was previously the city's media and entertainment commissioner, consumer affairs commissioner, and a community board chair in Lower Manhattan, helping revitalize the area after 9/11.

Friday's update from the Board of Elections — released three days later than originally expected, amid a chaotic vote-counting process — includes ranked-choice results for all votes cast in-person, during early voting or on Primary Day on June 22. On Tuesday, the Board will redo the ranked-choice allocation with most absentee ballots included.

Though the District 5 race had its contentious moments, especially in its final weeks, several of Menin's rivals congratulated her on her likely victory — including Shimamura, who said, "As a fellow mom I know how difficult it is to campaign with a family."

Progressive candidate Rebecca Lamorte finished in third place, according to this week's incomplete results, followed by Kim Moscaritolo, Billy Freeland, Christopher Sosa and Marco Tamayo.

Menin and Shimamura both told Patch last week that they were optimistic about their chances of prevailing, with Menin confident she would hold her 10-point election night lead and Shimamura hopeful that ranked-choice votes and absentee ballots would make up the deficit.

Both women appeared to be frontrunners for much of the District 5 race, having raised large sums of money and racked up notable endorsements. Menin’s backers included three Manhattan congresspeople, East Side Councilmember Keith Powers and a number of labor unions, while Shimamura was endorsed by State Sen. Liz Krueger, Assemblymember Rebecca Seawright and U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney — her former boss.

Major issues in the race included the New York Blood Center tower, which all candidates vocally opposed, and the city’s pandemic recovery.

Crime and public safety were also on voters’ minds, with both Shimamura and Menin appearing to take more moderate stances than some other candidates who called for significant cuts to the NYPD budget. Menin, especially, put that issue at the center of her platform, calling for an increase in police presence on the subways.

Also emerging as a point of contention in the race’s final weeks was the huge influx of outside spending by PACs looking to boost their preferred candidates. Nearly all of that money — $349,012 — went to Menin, making her the largest beneficiary from independent expenditures of any Council candidate in the city.

Menin legally had no ability to influence outside spending and declined to speculate when asked why some groups were supporting her so heavily.

The effectiveness of such spending in the first place is unclear. Still, rivals seized on the disclosures, calling them evidence that her campaign was beholden to wealthy interests aligned with real estate developers and conservative politics.

If elected in November, Menin will take office in January.

Previous coverage:

• Upper East Side City Council Race Hangs In Ranked-Choice Balance
• Here's Where The Upper East Side Candidates Stand On Your Issues
• Big Bucks Pour Into Upper East Side Council Race As Primary Nears
• UES Council Candidates Face Off In Person: Important Takeaways