Democratic Congresswoman, Yvette D. Clarke. Offi ce of Congresswoman Yvette D.
Clarke
Caribbean Life, November 6-12, 2020 3
By Nelson A. King
Despite preliminary results from
the New York State Board of Elections
(BOE) Tuesday night showing that Haitian
American Assemblywoman Mathylde
Frontus lost to newcomer Republican
Mark Szuszkiewicz’ in the 46th
Assembly District in Brooklyn, Frontus
is still holding out hope that she could
eventually be declared the winner.
“I received so many calls and text
messages today about my race,” said
Frontus, the daughter of Haitian immigrants
in a statement on Wednesday.
“I’d like to clarify that the results for the
46th district have not been finalized.
“As you can see, my Republican
opponent did receive 2,882 more inperson
votes than I did. However, there
are thousands of absentee ballots which
have to be counted,” she added, pointing
to preliminary data from the BOE
revealing that most absentee ballots
for the 46th district were requested by
Democratic voters.
“It is, therefore, within the realm of
possibility that I can still end up with
more votes than my opponent,” Frontus
continued. “Either way, we must
wait until every single vote is counted
before we can say with certainty who
won the race.”
She noted that one of her colleagues
in the Assembly won his primary race a
few years ago by only two votes.
“So, we have plenty of examples that
every vote matters,” said Frontus, stating
that most people in the West end
of Coney Island, where she lives, voted
for her, “and have never heard of my
Republican opponent.
“That’s because he never introduced
himself to the community much less
campaigned for our vote,” the assemblywoman
said. “However, he did
receive many votes in Sea Gate, Trump/
Warbasse/Luna and Bay Ridge/Dyker
from people who were already voting
for Trump and kept voting down ballot.
By Nelson A. King
Even as a clear winner is yet to be
determined between Republican President
Donald J. Trump and his Democratic
challenger former United States
Vice President Joe Biden in the US Presidential
Elections, the overwhelming
number of Caribbean Americans legislators
in New York have been declared
victorious in the Nov. 3 poll.
According to the unofficial results
from New York State Board of Elections,
Caribbean American Democratic
Congresswoman Yvette D. Clarke, the
daughter of Jamaican immigrants won
re-election by a landslide.
Clarke, who represents the predominantly
Caribbean 9th Congressional
District in Brooklyn, defeated her Haitian
American Republican closest challenger,
Constantin Jean-Pierre, by 63
percentage points.
Clarke received 170,898 votes, or 81
percent, to Jean-Pierre’s 36,847 votes,
or 18 percent.
Other candidates in the race, with
party affiliation described as “other”,
were Gary Popkin, who received 1,221
votes, or 1 percent; and Joel Anabilah-
Azumah , who received only 726 votes,
or 0 percent.
Prior to Tuesday’s vote, Clarke had
urged voters to “stand with me in our
fight to defeat Trump.”
The congresswoman said she was
“honored to receive overwhelming
support” from her constituents in
June’s Democratic Primary Elections,
and looked forward again to receiving
their support in the November poll.
“My Republican opponent this
November is a Trump loyalist; and,
you can guarantee that if we don’t
hold our House (of Representatives)
majority and defeat Trump, he will roll
over and do whatever Trump says,” she
told Caribbean Life.
In other races involving Caribbean
American Democratic legislators,
new comer Phara Souffrant Forrest,
the daughter of Haitian immigrants,
trounced long-standing African American
Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley,
III in the 57th Assembly District that
encompasses the neighborhoods of
Clinton Hill, Ft. Greene, Prospect
Heights, and parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant
and Crown Heights in Brooklyn.
Souffrant Forrest, a 31-year-old registered
nurse, who is married to Jamaican
Charles Forrest, beat Mosely, who
contested the general elections on
the minority Working Families Party
(WFP) ticket by 45.89 percent.
Souffrant Forrest received 31,857
votes, or 70.00 percent, to Mosely’s
10,973 votes, or 24.11 percent.
There were 2,426 ballots tabulated
as blank, 172 as void and 79 as writein.
Souffrant Forrest had shocked the
New York political world in the Democratic
Primary Elections in June,
when she beat Mosely by 10 percentage
points.
“That was not a fluke; that was not
a mistake,” she told Caribbean Life,
expressing confidence that she will
repeat that feat.
“I’m very confident that I will beat
him again,” she added. “I’m still going
strong.”
In the 43rd Assembly District in
Brooklyn, which comprises the Crown
Heights neighborhood, New York State
Assemblywoman Diana Richardson,
the daughter of St. Martin and Aruban
immigrants, beat her Republican
challenger Menachem M. Raitport by a
massive 73.43 percentage point.
Richardson received 31,860 votes,
or 84.64 percent, to Raitport’s 4,218
votes, or 11.21 percent.
One thousand, five hundred and
nine ballots were labelled as blank;
nine as void; and 44 as write-in.
In the 11th District of the New
York Assembly, which includes portions
of the town of Babylon in Suffolk
County in Long Is., Haitian American
Democratic Assemblywoman Kimberly
Jean-Pierre beat Republican Eugene
M. Murray by 9.39 percentage points.
Jean-Pierre, who was first elected in
2014, received 22,307 votes, or 50.36
percent, to Murray’s 18,149 votes, or
40.98 percent. The other ballots were
either blank, void or write-in.
Another Haitian American Democratic
New York State Assemblywoman,
Michaelle C. Solages, who
represents the 22nd District, which
includes portions of the town of Hempstead
in Nassau County in Long Is.,
defeated her Republican challenger
Nicholas M. Zacchea.
Solages, the daughter of Haitian
immigrants, received 32,432 votes,
or 57.95 percent, to Zacchea’s 15,935
votes, or 28.47 percent.
In other races, Caribbean American
legislators were re-elected unopposed.
They included veteran New York
State Assemblyman Jamaican N.
Nick Perry, who represents the 58th
Assembly District in Brooklyn; Haitian
American Assemblywoman Rodneyse
Bichotte, chair of the Brooklyn
Democratic Party, who represents the
42nd Assembly District in Brooklyn;
and Jamaican-born New York State
Senator Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., who
represents the 14th Senate District in
Queens.
Other Caribbean American legislators
who were re-elected unopposed
were: Trinidadian Assemblywoman
Jaime R. Williams, who represents
the 59th Assembly District in Brooklyn,
comprising parts of the Canarsie
neighborhood; Haitian American
Assemblyman Clyde Vanel, who represents
the 33rd Assembly District in
Queens, comprising the neighborhoods
of Cambria Heights, St. Albans, Hollis,
Queens Village, Bellerose and parts
of Floral Park in Queens; and Guyanese
born New York State Sen. Roxanne
Persaud, who represents the 19th
Senatorial District, which includes the
Canarsie neighborhood in Brooklyn.
Asssemblywoman Mathylde Frontus.
Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus/FB
Caribbean American politicians
victorious in general elections
Frontus still
hopeful of
victory