FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM SEPTEMBER 14, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
primary 2017
Low turnout & no surprises in Queens City Council primaries
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com / @robbpoz
Tuesday’s Democratic primary in
Queens developed as many pundits had
predicted: Most voters stayed home, and
almost all of the key races were lopsided
in favor of the incumbents.
Queens voters in nine City Council
districts also had to choose their party’s
nominee for the November general election.
Across the board, the turnout was
absolutely anemic.
Not a single candidate in any Queens
City Council primary race secured more
than 8,000 votes. Just one district had
slightly more than 10,000 total votes, and
less than 5,000 total votes were cast in
another district.
Th e closest City Council contest
turned out to be the three-way primary
race in the 28th District covering
much of southeast Queens. Community
Board 12 Chairperson Adrienne Adams
narrowly defeated community activist
Richard David and attorney Hettie
Powell. Adams secured 3,341 votes (38.8
percent); David had 2,763 (32 percent);
and Powell garnered 2,483 (28.9 percent).
With 21 write-ins, the total vote
count was 8,608.
Adams’ victory came despite her very
late entry into the race in August; she was
Adrienne Adams, seen here with Councilman Donovan Richards, was a big winner in Tuesday’s
Democratic City Council primary.
selected by Queens County Democratic
Party leaders to fi ll the ballot slot vacated
by former Councilman Ruben Wills,
who was expelled from offi ce following
his conviction on public corruption
charges.
Some of the other key City Council
races included the following:
19th District (Northeast Queens):
Councilman Paul Vallone inched closer
to a second term in offi ce by defeating
challenger Paul Graziano, an urban
Photo via Twitter/@DRichards13
planner, in Tuesday’s primary. Vallone
tallied 2,991 votes (54.1 percent) while
Graziano secured 2,518 (45.6 percent).
Th ere were 16 write-ins, bringing the
total vote count to 5,525.
23rd District (Northeast Queens):
Th is one was no contest as incumbent
Councilman Barry Grodenchik easily
defeated engineer Benny A. Itterra,
securing 4,346 votes (78.9 percent) to
Itterra’s 1,128 (20.5 percent). He’ll move
on to face Republican nominee Joe
Concannon in November. Th ere were 32
write-ins, bringing the total vote count
to 5,506.
27th District (Southeast Queens):
Councilman I. Daneek Miller cruised
to victory on Tuesday night in defeating
challenger Anthony Rivers, with Miller
getting more than 78 percent of the vote
(7,797). Rivers secured 2,144 votes and
there were 61 write-ins. Th e vote total
was 10,002.
30th District (includes Maspeth,
Middle Village and Woodside): City
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley
defeated her rival, Juniper Park Civic
Association President Robert Holden,
getting 3,496 of the 5,500 votes cast
(63.6%). Holden secured 1,986 votes,
but although he lost, he said he would
his campaign on the Conservative and
Reform party lines. (Read more about
this race in this week’s Ridgewood
Times).
32nd District (Southwest Queens and
the Rockaways): Mike Scala won the right
to challenge incumbent Republican City
Councilman Eric Ulrich in November.
Scala secured 43.7 percent of the vote
(2,115) over two rivals: public school
teacher Helal Sheikh (1,481, or 30.6 percent)
and housing advocate William
Ruiz (1,174, or 24.3 percent). Including
67 votes, the total vote count was 4,837.
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