The Results Are In… Mostly

Though the 2009 Democratic Primary was a huge deal in NYC, you might be a little hard pressed to actually see the results, so MYD is again coming to the aid. Below you’ll find a breakdown of the office, the winners, the losers, and an assessment of what it all means. Two of the Citywide races will have a runoff, scheduled for September 29tha. So, we’ll have to do this again in 2 weeks. Election results are preliminary and subject to change by the Board of Elections.

Mayor:
Bill Thompson (70.24%) – Winner
Tony Avella (21.42%)
Roland Rogers (8.34%)

Bill Thompson, the current City Comptroller, was expected to run away with this election. In fact, this number is a little lower than Thompson’s victory at the Young Dems Straw Poll (85.1%). The Billionare Mayor knows he’s in a weak place, which is why he’s throwing $100 Million into his race for re-election. Now that this primary is finally over, we can go out there and finally oust the Billionare Mayor and end the 16-year Democratic drought at Gracie Mansion.

Comptroller:
John Liu (38.02%) – Winner
David Yassky (30.5%) – Winner
Melinda Katz (20.44%)
David Weprin (11.04%)

Why are there 2 winners? Because, if a City-wide candidate doesn’t get a plurality of the vote (40%), it triggers a runoff. So, John Liu and David Yassky, both current City Councilmembers, will go head-to-head in a special Democratic Primary Runoff Election on September 29th. Mark your calendar, because you’ll need to vote again. Yassky and Liu were extremely close in the Young Dems Straw Poll: 43.8% and 50.5% respectively. Insiders were anxious to see if John Liu could actually score the magic 40% in the Primary, as his campaign was touting. Yassky’s campaign has been planning on a runoff for some time.

There were a lot of factors at play in this race. The NY Times and Working Families Party (WFP) split their endorsement with Liu winning the WFP and Yassky winning the NY Times. NY Times gives alot of street cred to a candidate, but the WFP provides great ground support. Schumer even weighed in on this race, something he rarely does, by endorsing Yassky. Now that the smoke has cleared, it will be interesting to see which direction the Katz/Weprin supporters go, and watch for Liu and Yassky to aggressively woo them. Katz and Weprin’s support could decide this election, but both have remained tight-lipped, and I haven’t seen any indication as to which way they’d lean. Both defeated candidates are from Queens, like Liu, but both are also Jewish, like Yassky. Which ties are stonger? We’ll find out, but one thing is for sure – if you feel passionately about either of these candidates, you should jump in and volunteer because your effort could decide the outcome.

Public Advocate:
Bill DeBlasio (32.63%) – Winner
Mark Green (30.88%) – Winner
Eric Gioia (18.40%)
Norman Siegal (14.32%)
Imtiaz Syed (3.76%)

Two winners again. Yes, you guessed it – neither DeBlasio or Green were able to score a plurality of the vote (40%) which automatically triggers a runoff. This is an upset over the Young Dems Straw Poll where Eric Gioia was the clear victor (45%). Even more amazingly, this was a huge upset from what the polls were showing leading up to this election. By all indications Mark Green, the former Public Advocate, Mayoral Candidate, and Attorney General Candidate, was expected to walk away with this election due to his enormously high name recognition and low voter turnout. He was at 60% in some polls. The NY Times endorsement and WFP support certainly helped DeBlasio, and this upset does not bode well for the Green campaign. Neither Gioia, Siegal, or Syed have indicated which candidate will get their support though, from the way the Primary campaign progressed it would be hard to imagine any of them supporting Green. As above, if you’re passionate about either candidate, jump in and volunteer now. You could decide the election.

District Attorney – Manhattan:
Cy Vance (44%) – Winner
Leslie Crocker-Snyder (29.94%)
Richard Aborn (26.06%)

The Young Dems Straw Poll showed Cy Vance winning with 59.3%, so those that followed weren’t too surprised. Cy Vance gained a ton of institutional support from the NY Times, former DA Bob Morgenthau, and a slew of other elected officials. Leslie Crocker-Snyder was running against a glass ceiling, and Aborn was running a positive, issue-heavy campaign. Insiders were predicting a Vance victory, but were anxious to see if he’d clear the magic 40% to stave a runoff, and which of the other two he’d be facing off with. Vance has won, and with no Republican opponent, will be our next District Attorney. But really, all of the candidates won in some way. Crocker-Snyder was able to successfully highlight the old-boys club mentality so prevalent in law enforcement and through that has likely inspired a new generation of women to combat that issue to better our criminal justice system. Aborn was able to steer the discussion toward issues and the candidates toward his alternative approaches which will do wonders for law enforcement in Manhattan. Now that each has made a name for themselves in the political arena, it will be interesting to see where Aborn and Crocker-Snyder land. Bob Morgenthau served as DA for so long that I don’t believe the NY political scene knows how to handle these new heavy-hitters.

City Council District 1:
Margaret Chin (39.43%) – Winner
Alan Gerson (30.57%)
PJ Kim (16.73%)
Peter Gleason (11.23%)
Arthur Gregory (2.04%)

This is a tremendous deal. Incumbent City Councilmembers running for reelection win 99% of the time. However, City Councilman Alan Gerson has been denied another term by voters in favor of Margaret Chin. I heard about 80 different ways this election was going to pan out, and each seemed to be done with sound logic. The most frequent seemed to be that PJ Kim and Margaret Chin split the Chinatown vote while Gerson, Gleason or Gregory slip by with the win. In the end, Margaret Chin won handily. A shout-out to MYD’s own Jake Itzkowitz who managed Margaret Chin’s campaign. Also important to note is that though MYD member PJ Kim lost the election for City Council, he was able to secure a spot on the Democratic County Committee.

City Council District 2:
Rosie Mendez (82.16%) – Winner
Juan Pagan (17.84%)

There was no surprise here. Rosie Mendez is beloved in her community and was running for reelection. She won handily. It will be interesting to see what Pagan does in the future.

City Council District 3:
Christine Quinn (52.46%)  – Winner
Yetta Kurland (31.35%)
Maria Passannante-Derr (16.19%)

This was a serious race. Certainly, Council Speaker Christine Quinn won reelection to her Council seat, but she was being challenged by two relative unknowns. At just over 50%, her colleagues in the City Council could eye these results as a sign of weakness which puts Quinn’s post as Speaker in jeopardy. People are already watching her closely to see whether or not she’ll endorse Thompson, the Democratic Nominee for Mayor, or side with Bloomberg. Her colleagues in the Council already murmur about her closeness to Bloomberg and this one decision could be the final straw. Also, it will be interesting to see if Kurland or Passannante-Derr run again in 2013. Kurland had a respectable showing, has good name recognition now, and if she continues to nurture her ties to the community over the next 4 years, could win it next time.

City Council District 7:
Robert Jackson (65.33%) – Winner
Manuel Lantigua (18.12%)
Victor Bernace (11.11%)
Fred Masson (5.43%)

Robert Jackson never stops campaigning. He wears a button everywhere that says “Robert Jackson, Council Member.” It’s not surprising that he won reelection. It is surprising that so many people felt the need to challenge him this time around. Victor Bernace was Jackson’s sole challenger back in 2005, and Fred Masson seems to be a young political newcomer. Manuel Lantigua had a respectable showing, though. Keep an eye on him for 2013 when Jackson is term-limited out of running again.

City Council District 8:
Melissa Mark-Viverito (45.93%) – Winner
Robert Rodriguez (26.8%)
Gwen Goodwin (12%)
Calvin Solomon (10.8%)
Thomas Santiago (4.47%)

Melissa Mark-Viverito was projected to win reelection as well. She faced almost as many opponents in 2005, but she was running for the first time then. It is a bit unusual to face so many challengers for reelection, and even odder that none of her 2005 challengers stepped up to challenge her this time. Robert Rodriguez had a very respectable showing, so watch for him to run again in 2013. That is unless Mark-Viverito is successful in turning him into a supporter.

City Council District 9:
Inez Dickens (65.35%) – Winner
Landon Dais (21.67%)
Carlton Berkley (12.98%)

Inez Dickens was projected to win reelection as well. She is an institution in CD9 and obviously well liked by her community.

City Council District 10:
Ydanis Rodriguez (59.98%) – Winner
Richard Realmuto (14.91%)
Manny Velazquez (9.88%)
Other (15.23%)

This was an interesting race because it had no incumbent. Former City Councilman Miguel Martinez resigned over the City Council finance scandal, leaving this election wide open. He was running for reelection before resigning, and attempted to have his campaign name a replacement for the ballot slot, but the Board of Elections rejected it on a technicality and the result was a guessing game as far as predicting the winner. There were 8 candidates in total, and in the end,Ydanis Rodriguez handily won the day.

*MYD does not endorse in contested primaries and took no official action to assist any of the campaigns in any way. MYD members are free to decide who they support and are encouraged to participate in any way possible. However, now that the Democratic Nominees have been decided for most races, we’ll be doing everything we can to ensure Democratic victories up and down the ballot.