Carmen De La Rosa 'Confident' She Will Replace Ydanis Rodriguez

UPPER MANHATTAN, NY — After the dust settled Tuesday night in the race to replace Ydanis Rodriguez as the Council Member for District 10 in Northern Manhattan, Assembly Member Carmen De La Rosa emerged as the strong early leader.

On Wednesday, she declared she is "confident" that she will be the next Council Member for Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill. Ydanis Rodriguez, the current District 10 Council Member, is term-limited.

De La Rosa worked as Rodriguez's chief of staff from 2014 to 2016 before running for the Northern Manhattan Assembly position she now holds.

With only the first-choice votes counted that were cast in person, De La Rosa holds a 12 point lead over Johanna Garcia, a nonprofit founder and chief of staff to Sen. Robert Jackson.

• Carmen De La Rosa: 6,876 votes, 40 percent
• Johanna Garcia: 4,901 votes, 28.5 percent
• Angela Fernandez: 2,967 votes, 17.3 percent
• James Behr: 599 votes, 3.5 percent
• Francesca Castellanos: 551 votes, 3.2 percent
• Josue Perez: 510 votes, 3 percent
• Thomas Leon: 494 votes, 2.9 percent
• Tirso Pena: 289 votes, 1.7 percent

"Last night, our community went out to exercise its right to vote and shape the future of our city," De La Rosa said in an emailed statement. "I am immensely proud of my community, my team, and our fight for a more equitable New York City. The preliminary results demonstrate that we hav e a commanding lead and, after ranked-choice votes are tabulated, I am confident that I will serve the communities of Washington Heights, Inwood, and Marble Hill as its next Council Member. Thank you for your trust."

Johanna Garcia took to Facebook Wednesday morning to share her message to voters.

"Good morning everyone! Woke up weary from nearly two years of campaigning, but so grateful for the love, energy, and support always present among volunteers and residents of Uptown. There are so many who feel like family," Garcia wrote. "The campaign was always about pushing for representation that includes all of us, centers around the neediest and marginalized, and brings people together to solve the many issues that plague our communities to promote meaningful progress. We owe it to ourselves to be the architect of our collective destiny by working together."

The Board of Elections will release preliminary, unofficial ranked-choice voting results of the in-person early voting and Election Day ballots on June 29. This tally will not include absentee ballots.

On July 6, the Board of Elections will release an updated tally that includes the absentee ballots.

The earliest week the Board of Elections may certify final results, with all absentee ballots and ranked-choice voting tallies, is the one starting on July 12.