Upper East Side's District 5 Council Race: Menin Leads So Far

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Hours after the polls closed Tuesday evening in New York City's primary elections, incomplete results for the District 5 City Council race on the Upper East Side showed Julie Menin holding a 10-point lead.

By 11:30 p.m., Menin, the former census director and city commissioner, led the early results with 33.9 percent of the vote, trailed by Tricia Shimamura at 23.7 percent, Rebecca Lamorte at 11.7 percent and Kim Moscaritolo at 11.2 percent. All precincts had reported their in-person, first-choice votes.

Tuesday night's results include only the first-choice votes cast in District 5 during early voting and on Tuesday. Final results will not be known until mid-July, when absentee ballots have been counted and voters' second through fifth choices have been factored into the ranked-choice calculation.

Keith Powers, the incumbent in neighboring District 4, was re-elected unopposed to a second term on Tuesday.

The seven-way race to succeed term-limited Ben Kallos has been one of the most competitive in Manhattan. Major issues have included recovery from the pandemic, the New York Blood Center's controversial expansion, and public safety and police funding.

The race has drawn attention in recent weeks for the huge amounts of money that outside groups have spent to boost their preferred candidates — more than $364,000, as of Tuesday.

Nearly all of that total has been spent in support of Menin. Her campaign has received $349,019 in PAC support — more than the total outside spending in any other district, let alone on any individual campaign.

The largest spender has been Rebuild NYC 2021, a PAC that has paid $191,152 to boost Menin's campaign through mailers, TV and internet ads and text messages. Registered on East 57th Street, the group's biggest funders are Matthew Dontzin, an attorney; Seth Weissman, a hedge fund manager; and Pericles Navab, CEO of the wholesaler PITCO Foods.

Other support for Menin has come from Common Sense NYC, a pro-business PAC funded in part by billionaires Stephen Ross and Ronald Lauder, whose spending on Menin included a billboard truck that drove through the Upper East Side last week.

Most of Menin's opponents attacked the spending, questioning why conservative businessmen were allying themselves with their Democratic rival. Meanwhile, Menin — who was barred by law from coordinating PAC spending — told Patch that she disavowed "all outside spending."

Previous District 5 coverage:

• Big Bucks Pour Into Upper East Side Council Race As Primary Nears
• Outside Spending In Upper East Side Council Race Draws Scrutiny
• Here's Where The Upper East Side Candidates Stand On Your Issues
• UES Council Candidates Face Off In Person: Important Takeaways