18 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 6, 2014 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com QUEENS DEMS TAKE GENERAL ELECTION BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA @CristabelleT ctumola@queenscourier.com There were no surprises in this year’s general election, as all the Queens Democratic candidates won their races. Many of the congressional, Assembly and state Senate Democratic candidates running in the borough this year were only facing third-party challengers. The ones that were not still bested their GOP rivals by a good number of votes. The hotly contested races already took place during the September primary, specifi cally between Tony Avella and John Liu in the 11th state Senate district and Malcolm Smith and Leroy Comrie in the 14th state Senate district. Avella, the incumbent, narrowly beat Liu, the former city comptroller, while Comrie, a former city councilman, defeated state Senator Smith, who is awaiting trial on federal corruption charges, in a landslide. Though Avella had to still take on Green Party candidate Paul Gilman, Comrie was uncontested in the general election and the only non-incumbent who won. Other Queens electeds who faced no challengers on Nov. 4 included U.S. Rep. Grace Meng, state Sens. James Sanders Jr., Jose Peralta, Toby Ann Stavisky, and Assembly members Phil Goldfeder, David Weprin, Nily Rozic, Ed Braunstein, Michael Simanowitz, Andrew Hevesi, William Scarborough, Margaret Markey, Michele Titus, Vivian Cook, Barbara Clark, Michael DenDekker, Jeffrion Aubry, Aravella Simotas, Mike Miller and Francisco Moya. Sanders, Stavisky and Markey were the only ones who had to secure their seats in the September primary. Scarborough, who has represented the 29th Assembly District in southeast Queens for two decades, faces legal troubles, however, after being arrested on state and federal corruption charges last month. He is accused of stealing campaign funds and collecting travel reimbursement checks through the voucher system, which each legislator gets when he or she is in the state capital, even when he was not there. U.S. Reps. Carolyn Maloney and Steve Israel, state Sen. Joseph Addabbo Jr. and Assemblyman Ron Kim all retained their seats over Republican opponents. Israel and Addabbo had the two closest races of the night in Queens. With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Israel received 54.5 percent of the vote, while his GOP challenger Grant Lally earned 45.5 percent, according to unoffi cial results. Addabbo beat his Republican opponent Michael Conigliaro 55.1 to 44.9 percent, with 3,632 votes separating the two. Fellow incumbents U.S. Reps. Gregory Meeks, Hakeem Jeffries and Joseph Crowley, state Sen. Michael Gianaris and Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, who were only up against third-party challengers, easily won their races. Outside of the borough, Gov. Andrew Cuomo won his re-election bid against Republican Rob Astorino. Cuomo, with his running mate for lieutenant governor, Kathy Hochul, earned 54 percent of the vote with 99.5 percent of the precincts reporting, according to unoffi cial results, while Astorino and his candidate for lieutenant governor, Chris Moss, received 40.6 percent. In other statewide elections State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman also faced Republican challengers and won the majority of the votes. “I feel good about what we did and I feel good about how we did it,” Cuomo said in his victory speech. “Our efforts were all about unifying people and growing the state. We said that New York is at its best when it acts like a family, honoring each other’s rights and responsibilities.” File photos Assemblyman Ron Kim and U.S. Rep. Steve Israel were some of only a handful of Queens Democrats who faced GOP opponents in this year’s general election. 8.9% No, that’s not a typo. Discover the rewards of Qside Visa Credit Cards at QsideFCU.org. With some of the lowest rates around, Qside Visa Credit Cards help you save more money, reduce your debt more quickly, and even earn Rewards. What’s not to love? Qside Visa Credit Card No annual fee No application fee No cash advance fee No balance transfer fee *APR = Annual Percentage Rate Federally Insured by NCUA Not all borrowers will qualify. ScoreCard Rewards points available on Visa Classic Rewards (12.9% APR) and Visa Platinum Rewards (9.9% APR) cards.
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