Few surprise early results in
Manhattan races on Election Night
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
While the outcome of the 2020
presidential election remained
much in doubt on Wednesday
morning, there’s far little drama concerning
the down-ballot races focused on
Manhattan.
To little surprise, the Democratic presidential
ticket of former Vice President Joe
Bide nand California Senator Kamala
Harris dominated Manhattan, taking every
Assembly district, according to the New
York City Board of Elections preliminary
totals. Just over 84.2% of Manhattan voters
opted for Biden/Harris over the incumbent
Republican ticket of President Donald
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.
Further down the ballot, the incumbent
Democratic legislators either faced little
challenge from their Republican rivals —
or no challenge at all. That included Upper
East Side/Roosevelt Island Assemblywoman
Rebecca Seawright, who appears
poised for re-election despite not being able
to run on the Democratic line this year.
Seawright, of the 76th Assembly District,
ran on the Rise and Unite ballot
line after being knocked off the June 23
Democratic primary ballot due to a fi ling
snafu. That left the Democratic Party line
vacant in Tuesday’s general election.
Nonetheless, Seawright’s third-party
gambit proved effective on Election Day,
as she holds a big lead over Republican/
Liberal candidate Louis Puliafi to, a union
steward and doorman from the Upper East
Side. With 99% of the scanners reported,
Seawright has a nearly 3,000 vote lead
on Puliafi to, with the incumbent gaining
16,151 votes (54.8%) over her challenger’s
13,163 votes (44.7%).
Again, the scanner results — provided by
the Board of Elections — are preliminary
in nature. Tens of thousands of Manhattan
residents voted by absentee ballot this election
cycle due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It may take up to two weeks before those
ballots are counted, so the numbers in
Seawright’s race and other contests could
fl uctuate by then.
As for the other contests, voters seemed
to have returned all four members of
Manhattan’s Congressional delegation to
Capitol Hill in overwhelming fashion.
They include Congresswoman Nydia
Velázquez of the 7th District (Chinatown
and the Lower East Side, along with parts
of Brooklyn and Queens); Congressman
Jerry Nadler of the 10th District (much
of the West Side south of 122nd Street as
A line of voters waiting to get inside St. Anthony of Padua Church in SoHo on Election Day morning, Nov. 3.
well as Chelsea, Greenwich Village, SoHo,
Tribeca and Lower Manhattan, and Brooklyn);
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of
the 12th District (East Side south of 98th
Street and extending into Midtown, the
East Village and the Lower East Side, along
with Brooklyn and Queens); and Congressman
Adriano Espaillat of the 13th District
(Harlem, Upper Manhattan and parts of
western Bronx).
The incumbent Democrats garnered
two-thirds or more of the vote against their
Republican and third-party rivals.
Drama was also lacking in Manhattan’s
state Senate races. The big winners on
Election night were Democratic incumbents
Brian Kavanagh of the 26th District
(Lower Manhattan, SoHo, NoHo, East Village,
Little Italy, Chinatown, Battery Park
City, Tribeca, the Financial District and
parts of northern Brooklyn); Liz Krueger
of the 28th District (Flatiron District,
Gramercy Park, Kips Bay, Midtown and
the Upper East Side); Jose Serran oof the
29th District (Upper East and West Sides,
Roosevelt Island, East Harlem, Randall’s
and Wards Islands, and the South Bronx);
Brian Benjami nof the 30th District (Upper
Manhattan, Harlem, East Harlem, and the
Upper East and West Sides); and Robert
Jackson of the 31st District (Inwood, Upper
Manhattan, Washington Heights and
the Hudson River waterfront down to the
Lincoln Tunnel).
Each candidate received no fewer than
two-thirds of the vote, according to the
unoffi cial scanner count.
State Senator Brad Hoylman won
re-election to his 27th District seat unopposed.
The district covers a large chunk
of Midtown Manhattan as well as the East
Village, Chelsea, SoHo, Tribeca, Hell’s
Kitchen and parts of the Upper West Side.
As for the other Assembly seats in
Manhattan besides Seawright’s contest,
there were only four other competitive
races on the ballot Tuesday — and again,
the incumbent Democrats appeared to
dominate them.
The big winners included Assemblywoman
Deborah Glick of the 66th District
(West Village, Greenwich Village, SoHo,
Tribeca and Lower Manhattan); Assemblyman
Robert Rodriguez of the 68th District
(East Harlem, the Upper East Side, Randall’s
and Wards Islands); Assemblywoman
PHOTO BY TEQUILA MINSKY
Inez Dickensof the 70th District (Harlem
and West Harlem); and Assemblyman Dan
Quart of the 73rd District (Upper East Side
and Midtown).
The other Assembly candidates were
re-elected without opposition:
• Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou of the
65th District (Chinatown, Lower Manhattan
and the Lower East Side)
• Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal of
the 67th District (Hell’s Kitchen, Midtown,
Upper West Side)
• Assemblyman Danny O’Donnell of
the 69th District (Harlem and the Upper
West Side)
• Assemblyman Al Taylor of the 71st
District (Inwood, Hudson Heights, Washington
Heights and Sugar Hill)
• Assemblywoman Carmen De La Rosa
of the 72nd District (Inwood, Hudson
Heights, Washington Heights)
• Assemblyman Harvey Epstein of the
74th District (Midtown East, Gramercy
Park, Kips Bay, East Village, Lower East
Side)
• Assemblyman Richard Gottfried of
the 75th District (Chelsea, Midtown, Hell’s
Kitchen, Upper West Side).
Schneps Media November 5, 2020 3