Progressive candidates win across
multiple primary races in the Bronx
BY JENNA BAGCAL
The June 23 Democratic
primaries marked victories
for many progressive candidates
at the state and local levels.
In many of the major races,
voters chose progressive candidates
instead of their more
moderate counterparts. But
results from the Board of
Elections refl ected a preliminary
count of votes from those
who physically went to polls
and did not include those who
voted via absentee ballot.
The BOE reported that it
distributed more than 700,000
absentee ballots to registered
Democrats, yet only 77,000, or
11 percent, were returned.
As of Wednesday, June 24,
these are the unoffi cial results
of some of the prominent
Bronx races:
In the 14th Congressional
District race, incumbent
Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez swept up the
victory against her challengers.
With 449 of 449 districts
reporting results, she earned
27,460 of the total votes, or
69.5 percent. At press time,
Michelle Caruso-Cabrera,
Badrun Khan and Sam Sloan
earned 7,393 (18.73%), 2,040
(5.17%) and 932 (2.36%) of the
votes respectively.
In the 12-candidate race in
the 15th Congressional District,
Ritchie Torres led the
polls with 12,421 votes or 29.44
percent of the total votes. Assemblyman
Michael Blake
and Councilman Ruben Diaz
Sr. each received 7,905 (18.74%)
and 6,032 (14.30%) of the votes,
while Samelys Lopez and
Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez
earned 5,387 (12.77%)
and 4,648 (11.02%) of the votes
respectively.
In the race for the 16th Congressional
District, progressive
candidate Jamaal Bowman
earned nearly twice the
votes of incumbent Congressman
Eliot Engel. With 698
of 732 districts reporting results,
Bowman received 27,174
votes (60.76%) to Engel’s 15,372
(34.37%) votes.
BRONX TIMES REPORTER,2 JUNE 26-JULY 2, 2020 BTR
With all 219 of the districts
reporting results, incumbent
Senator Luis Sepulveda
earned 9,716 (45.33%) of the
votes, while his closest competitor,
Pamela Stewart-Martinez,
received 6,390 (29.82%)
of the votes.
In a landslide win, incumbent
Senator Alessandra
Biaggi defeated James Gisondi.
Biaggi earned 15,307
(78.03%) votes to Gisondi’s
2,469 (12.59%) votes.
The following are the unoffi
cial results from the fi ve
State Assembly District races
in the Bronx:
State Assembly District 78:
• Assemblyman Jose
Rivera (3,854 votes –
71.64%)
• Francisco A. Spies
(660 – 12.27%)
• State Assembly District
79:
• Chantel Jackson (2,222
– 24.67%)
• Cynthia Cox (1,982 –
22.01%)
• George Alvarez (1,493
– 16.58%)
• Eric Stevenson (1,103
– 12.25%)
• Elvis Santana (1,062 –
11.79%)
• Dion Powell (310 –
3.44%)
State Assembly District
81:
• Assemblyman Jeffrey
Dinowitz (5,630 –
55.71%)
• George Diaz (3,750 –
37.11%)
State Assembly District
82:
• Assemblyman Michael
Benedetto (8,817
– 77.77%)
• Egidio Sementilli
(1,422 – 12.54%)
State Assembly District
85:
• Kenneth Burgos (3,541
– 51.71%)
• William Russell
Moore (2,365 – 34.54%)
State Assembly District
87:
• A s s emb l y woma n
Karines Reyes (5922 –
70.37%)
• Garfi eld Holland
(1,573 – 18.69%)
To see the results from
all the races visit nyenr.elections.
ny.gov.
Jamaal Bowman greets Co-op
City residents after appearing to
win the primary.
Photo by Jason Cohen
/ny.gov