Brooklyn primaries to watch
BY BEN VERDE
The 2020 primary election
in New York has proven one of
the most unusual in the city’s
history, as voters cast an unprecedented
number of absentee
ballots due to COVID-19
— ensuring the fi nal results
won’t be known for several
weeks.
The weeks-long wait is sure
to leave fi ngernails bitten down
to the nub in some races, while
other results already point to a
clear winner, absentee results
withstanding.
According to Board of Election
data, 2o7,749 absentee ballots
were distributed for the
Democratic party alone — and,
as of Tuesday, the BOE had only
received about 3,000, or 1.5 percent
of the total.
Adding to the confusion,
many voters reported irregularities
at in-person polling locations
— including misprinted
ballots, closed voting sites, and
abnormally long lines as poll
workers scramble to correct
mistakes.
The situation became so dire
at PS 261 in Boerum Hill, where
there was a drastic shortage of
poll workers, forcing the shortstaffed
crew to attempt to recruit
people who walked in to
vote as make-shift workers.
Downtown resident Wilfred
Bright, who went to the location
to vote, told Brooklyn Paper
that he was recruited to work as
an accessibility clerk, responsible
for helping disabled voters
access the scanners.
That chaos and confusion,
combined with the abnormallyhigh
absentee ballots, is sure to
make for a bumpy ride to the
fi nish line.
In the meantime, here’s
where things currently stand:
NY-12 Congressional
District (Williamsburg)
Incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney
holds on to a narrow lead
against primary challenger
Suraj Patel in the district that
touches Williamsburg — where
Maloney is ahead with 40.34
percent of the vote to Patel’s
38.75 percent.
Assembly District 50
(Greenpoint)
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Joe Lentol holds
a lead over challenger Emily
Gallagher with 55.13 percent
of the vote to Gallagher’s 40.42
percent.
Assembly District 57
(Crown Heights, Fort
Greene)
Democratic Socialists of
America-backed challenger
Phara Souffrant Forrest and
incumbent Assemblyman
Walter Mosley are neck and
neck, with Forrest right behind
Mosley at 45.89 percent to
the incumbent’s 49.80 percent.
State Senate District
25 (Bedford Stuyvesant,
Clinton Hill, Prospect
Heights, Boerum Hill,
Carroll Gardens)
Upstart socialist Jabari
Brisport holds the lead for the
three-way race to replace retiring
senate stalwart Velmanette
Montgomery with 49.98
percent to the establishment
favorite Assemblywoman Tremaine
Wright’s 38.85 percent.
Meanwhile, former Montgomery
staffer Jason Salmon remains
in the single digits so
far with just 6 percent.
Assembly District
43 (Prospect Lefferts
Gardens, Crown Heights,
Flatbush)
Assemblywoman Diana
Richardson holds a massive
lead over former Independent
Democratic Conference member
Jesse Hamilton, who challenged
Richardson to her seat
after being booted from his own
senate position two years ago in
a wave of anti-Republican fervor.
Richardson is ahead with
67.11 percent of in-person votes
while Hamilton lags behind
with only 26.56 percent.
NY-9 Congressional
District (Central and
south Brooklyn)
Incumbent Yvette Clarke is
in a comfortable lead against
her four challengers with 60
percent of in-person votes.
Adem Bunkedekko — who
came close to beating the
longtime Congresswoman in
2018 is in a far-and-away second
place with only 17 percent.
Conservative Democrat
Chaim Deutsch and progressive
Isiah James have both
brought in only 9 percent thus
far, while business owner
Lutchi Gayot holds just 1 percent
of in-person votes.
District leaders
Brooklynites also voted to
elect the Kings County Democratic
party’s district leaders
— an unpaid low-level elected
position with one male and female
representative for each
assembly district who serve
as the governing body of the
county’s Democratic party.
A handful of young, leftwing,
and reform-minded
candidates gained comfortable
leads from in-person voters
during Tuesday’s elections
— including activist and
self-described socialist Samy
Nemir-Olivaris, who gained
62.3 percent in Bushwick,
and the former leader of the
reform-oriented Democratic
club New Kings Democrats,
Jesse Pierce, who fi nished the
day with a narrow lead of 52.2
percent of the vote share in
Boerum Hill.
For more on election day and
district leader races visit brooklynpaper.
com
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