Richards, Crowley in tight battle for borough president
BY JENNA BAGCAL, JULIA
MORO, ZACHARY GEWELB &
ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Voters in Queens used
ranked-choice voting to pick
between three Democratic
candidates running for borough
president in the primary
election on Tuesday, June 22,
with two candidates vying
for the top spot in the hotly
contested race.
Incumbent Donovan Richards
held a small lead over
Elizabeth Crowley, the former
District 30 councilwoman, as
of 8 a.m. Wednesday morning,
with term-limited District
26 City Councilman Jimmy
Van Bramer in third place,
with more than 88 percent of
precincts reported, according
to unofficial results from
the city’s Board of Elections
(BOE).
Richards secured 41.53 percent
of the vote (64,814 votes),
with Crowley right behind
him at 40.20 percent of the vote
(62,738 votes), according to the
BOE. Van Bramer followed
with 17.82 percent of the vote
(27,813 votes).
Because of the new rankedchoice
voting system, if none
of the three candidates have
more than 50 percent of the
votes after all votes are counted,
the last-place candidate
will be out of the running. If
initial results are any indication,
Van Bramer will be in
last place, which means that
all ballots with Van Bramer
as the first choice would be
redistributed to those voters’
second-choice candidates. After
that, whoever has the most
votes will win.
Only preliminary unofficial
results, including ballots
cast during the early voting
period and on Election Day,
are currently available from
the BOE. Absentee ballots are
not a part of the initial tally.
“I think when all is said
and done, I think our work
speaks for itself. I think when
ranked-choice voting plays
out, we’re gonna come out favorable
in this race as well,”
Richards said at his election
night party at Cobblestones
Donovan Richards (l.) holds a slight lead over Elizabeth Crowley after Election Day, but thousands of ballots have yet to be counted.
Photos courtesy of Richards’ and Crowley’s campaigns
Pub in Forest Hills. “Every
vote must be counted and we
respect the Democratic process.
We’re ready to continue
the work that we started.”
Meanwhile, Crowley’s campaign
manager Graham Nolen
said the campaign is “encouraged
by the results we’ve seen
so far.”
“There are tens of thousands
of absentee ballots to be
counted, and we look forward
to seeing the complete results
and the RCV process,” Nolen
said. “We believe we’re on a
path to victory.”
The close race is no surprise,
as Richards and Crowley
competed in the closely
contested special election in
2020 to fill the seat vacated by
Melinda Katz, who was elected
to become Queens district attorney
in 2019. The race came
down to the wire, with Crowley
finishing in second place,
trailing Richards by only 7
percent of the vote.
Following the Democratic
primary, Richards became
the first Black man to win the
Queens borough presidency
in the November 2020 general
election, beating out Republican
challenger Joann Ariola
TIMESLEDGER | Q 22 NS.COM | JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2021
and third-party candidate Dao
Yin. Election results showed
that Richards earned 518,840
votes (69.8 percent of the vote)
compared to Ariola’s 205,893
votes. Winning the primary
today is the first step to keeping
that role for a full term.
Prior to serving as borough
president, Richards was the
councilman for District 31,
which represents constituents
in Arverne, Brookville, Edgemere,
Laurelton, Springfield
Gardens and Far Rockaway,
from 2013 to 2020.
Richards’ re-election campaign
prioritized COVID-19
recovery; building more affordable
housing; improving
transportation by redesigning
streets, improving the
borough’s bike network and
increasing bus service; and
combating the rampant hate
crimes across the borough.
Crowley is the most moderate
of the three democratic
candidates. According to her
campaign, she is in support
of hiring more police officers
and criticizes the term “defund
the police.” Crowley said
she wants to diversify the police
force as well.
“We have to go back to the
fundamentals: Good schools,
affordable living and safe
streets,” Crowley said. “I
have a proven record on all
of these issues: my City Council
district is no longer the
most overcrowded. I’m the
only candidate in the race
to not take developer money,
and I have taken on City Hall
consistently to fight for our
fair share of public safety
resources.”
The lifelong Queens resident
was the first woman
and Democrat elected to the
City Council in District 30
and served on the Council for
nine years. She told QNS that
the top three issues facing the
borough are a post-COVID
economic comeback, improvements
to public education and
expanding transit and affordable
housing for Queens residents.
Van Bramer, who was in
the middle of a campaign for
borough president last year
before dropping out, is considered
the most progressive
candidate and has received
endorsements from Cynthia
Nixon and state Senator Jessica
Ramos. He’s a founding
member of the progressive
caucus of the City Council.
Van Bramer on Wednesday
morning all but conceded the
race, acknowledging that his
deficit is likely too much to
bounce back from.
“While there are still potentially
nearly 50,000 absentee
ballots yet to be counted,
it is clear from the results on
Primary Day that we did not
get the result we had hoped
for,” Van Bramer said in an
emailed statement. “I congratulate
Borough President Donovan
Richards and Elizabeth
Crowley for moving on to the
next round of ranked-choice
voting. Although we fell short,
there is so much about this
campaign to be proud of.”
The BOE plans to count the
rest of the votes on June 29, but
those will also only include
early voting and election day
ballots.
They also plan to release
updates on the absentee ballots
one week after that on July
6. Complete results should be
available by July 12, but there
is no set date. An official result
will be made when every
vote is counted.
The general election will
take place on Nov. 2, 2021.
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