Caribbean candidates triumphant in
preliminary NY Primary elections results
Caribbean Life, JUNE 25-JULY 1, 2021 3
By Nelson A. King
Several Caribbean candidates are leading
in the unofficial results of Tuesday’s
New York Primary elections with rankedchoice
voting, used for the first time in
the city’s elections, delaying the official
declaration of a winner even up to mid-
July.
New York City voters, for the first time,
were able to rank candidates according to
their preferences.
The city’s Board of Elections said that
more than 191,000 New Yorkers cast ballots
during the early voting period.
The board also said that it received
about 220,000 requests for absentee ballots.
The Board of Elections said it will
release, on June 29, the first set of official
results from the ranked-choice voting
process, including only votes from early
in-person and election day voters, not
absentee ballots.
On July 6, the board said it will again
release the results of the ranked-choice
voting process, including processed
absentee ballots.
Afterwards, the board said it will report
results every Tuesday until all the ballots
are counted.
Even so, based on the Board of Elections’
preliminary results from Election
Day voting on Tuesday, Caribbean candidates
Jumaane Williams, Farah Louis,
Rita Joseph, Mercedes Narcisse and Crystal
Hudson are leading in the in-person
ballot.
With 83.99 percent of the precincts
reporting, Williams, the incumbent New
York City Public Advocate and son of
Grenadian immigrants, is way ahead of
his nearest challenger, Anthony Herbert.
Williams garnered 486,538 votes, or
71 percent, to Herbert’s 144,922 votes,
or 21.2 percent. Theo Tavarez is a distant
third, with 53,551 or 7.8 percent.
Williams’s primary campaign issues
were ensuring a just COVID-19 recovery,
redefining public safety, and increasing
government transparency and accountability
.
“Our city needs a Public Advocate who
can effectively be an activist elected official,
with more than just politics, bringing
the voice of everyday New Yorkers into the
halls of government,” he said.
“As New York City’s current Public
Advocate, I pledge to continue to combine
activism and legislation to help make our
city a truly progressive beacon, and fight
for a just and equitable recovery from the
COVID-19 pandemic,” Williams added.
The office of New York City Public Advocate
is a citywide elected position, which is
first in line to succeed the mayor.
The office serves as a direct link
between the electorate and city government,
effectively acting as an ombudsman,
or watchdog, for New Yorkers.
For New York City Comptroller, Brian
Benjamin, the Harvard-educated son of
a Guyanese mother and Jamaican father,
came a distant fourth in a 10-way race,
receiving 56,377 votes, or 7.7 percent.
Brad Lander, with 229,021 votes, or
31.4 percent, is leading the contest, with
83.99 percent of the precincts reporting.
New York City Council Speaker Corey
Johnson is second, with 164, 858 votes, or
22.6 percent.
For Brooklyn Borough President, Haitian
born, New York City Councilman Dr.
Mathieu Eugene and Kari Edwards, the
son of Trinidadian and Guyanese immigrants,
are fourth and fifth, respectively.
Trisha Ocona — a community leader
and small business owner, whose mother
is Jamaican and her father Venezuelan —
is a distant ninth.
With 91.1 percent of precincts reporting,
Dr. Eugene — who represents the
predominantly Caribbean 40th Council
District in Brooklyn and is prevented
from seeking another term because of
the city’s term limit laws – has garnered
20,570 votes, or 8.1 percent, in the race
that involves 11 other candidates.
Edwards has secured 15,912 votes,
or 6.3 percent; and Ocona received
7,791votes, or 3.1 percent.
New York City Councilman Antonio
Reynoso is leading the race with 71,751
votes, or 28.2 percent. His City Council
colleague, Robert Cornegy, is second, with
48,796 votes, or 19.2 percent.
In Queens, the incumbent Borough
President, Donovan Richards, who traces
his roots to Jamaica, is in a tight race with
his closest challenger, Elizabeth Crowley.
With 76.64 percent of precincts reporting,
Richards is leading with 64,814 votes,
or 41.7 percent, to Crowley’s 62,738 votes,
or 40.4 percent.
James Van Bramer, the other candidate,
has received 27,813 votes, or 17.9
percent.
In Brooklyn’s 35th Council District,
Crystal Hudson, the daughter and granddaughter
of Jamaican immigrants, is
leading the seven-way race that includes
Renee Collymore, the daughter of a Barbadian
father.
Hudson is trying to succeed term-limited
City Council Member Laurie Cumbo
in the district that comprises the Brooklyn
neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton
Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights
and a portion of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
With 100 percent of the precincts
reporting, Hudson has received 12,308
votes, or 38.6 percent. Her closest challenger,
Michael Hollingsworth, has
secured 11,017 votes, or 34.5 percent.
Collymore, a former Democratic District
Leader and daughter the late Barbadian
immigrant, Cecil Collymore, is third,
with 4,000 votes, or 12.5 percent.
If Hudson is eventually declared the
official winner, she will be the first openly
gay Black woman elected to the New York
City Council.
In the race to succeed Dr. Eugene,
another Haitian is leading the race among
10 other candidates in Brooklyn’s 40th
Council District.
Rita Joseph, a longtime public school
teacher and community activist in Brooklyn,
is ahead of her Haitian-born compatriot
Josue Pierre, who is in second place.
Joseph has earned 5,060 votes, or 25.3
percent, to Pierre’s 4,073 votes, or 20.4
percent.
Two other Haitians — Edwin Raymond,
a New York Police Department
(NYPD) lieutenant, and Maxi Eugene, Dr.
Eugene’s brother — have also contested
the seat in the district that comprises the
neighborhoods of Ditmas Park, Flatbush,
Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Lefferts
Garden and Southern Crown Heights.
Raymond is fourth with 1,636 votes, or
8.2 percent, and Eugene is seventh with
992 votes, or 5 percent.
Two Guyanese — community activist
John Williams and lawyer Victor Jordan
— are also in the race. Williams is
ninth, with 601votes, or 3 percent; and
Jordan last, securing only 303 votes, or
1.5 percent.
In the adjacent, 45th Council District,
which is also heavily Caribbean-populated,
the incumbent, Haitian American
New York City Council Member, Farah
N. Louis, is poised to win the seat by a
landslide.
With 82. 64 percent of the precinct
reporting, Louis, the daughter of Haitian
immigrants, is far ahead of her closest
rival, Jamaican American Anthony Beckford,
a US Marine veteran and community
activist.
Louis has received 12,812 votes, or 76
percent, to Beckford’s (the son of Jamaican
immigrants) 3,335 votes, or 19.8
percent.
The other contender, Cyril Joseph, has
received 707 votes, or 4.2 percent.
In the race for representation in the
46th Council District in Brooklyn, Haitian
born registered nurse, Mercedes Narcisse
is leading in the eight-way contest.
With 83.48 percent of precincts reporting,
Narcisse — who was endorsed by
veteran New York State Assemblyman
Jamaican N. Nick Perry, representative for
the 58th Assembly District in Brooklyn –
has received 5,856 votes, or 35.9 percent.
Narcisse’s closest rival, Shirley Paul,
garnered 2,694, or 16.5 percent. Haitian
community worker Gardy Brazela
received 2,378 votes, or 14.6 percent, to
take the third spot.
Retired NYPD detective Barbadian Dr.
Judy Newton is fifth with 1,422 votes, or
8.7 percent; and Guyanese Dimple Willabus
is sixth with 1,199 votes, or 7.3
percent.
“The love I have for the community,
the community loves me back,” Narcisse
told Caribbean Life about her lead early
Wednesday morning. “The pandemic has
highlighted the issues. And I’m ready to
address the issues that affect us.
“And I’m here to represent every single
family in our district,” she added about
the Brooklyn district that includes the
neighborhoods of Canarsie and Flatlands.
NYC Public Advocate,Jumaane D.
Williams. Kevin Fagan
Brooklyn Council Member Farah N.
Louis addresses ‘Cel-Liberation’ Rally.
Brooklyn Council Member Farah N. Louis
offi ce
Crystal Hudson. Crystal Hudson’s
campaign