8 NOVEMBER 23, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Holden celebrates 'David & Goliath' Council win
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
AND ROBERT POZARYCKI
EDITORIAL@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
Eight days after the election,
Robert Holden clinched the
30th City Council District seat
over two-term incumbent Elizabeth
Crowley. His narrow Election Night
victory was upheld aft er the Board
of Elections counted all absentee and
affi davit ballots on Nov. 15.
It was a stunning defeat for Crowley,
the only incumbent Democratic City
Council member to lose to a Republican
candidate this election cycle. In a
statement Thursday morning, Crowley
said her nine years working in the City
Council were “the most rewarding and
fulfi lling of my entire life.”
At the conclusion of Wednesday’s
count, a source close to the situation
reported, Holden had 137 more votes
than Crowley. His margin of victory
had actually grown by four; aft er polls
were tabulated on Election Night, the
Republican challenger had a 133-vote
lead over his Democratic rival.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,
running for offi ce, but it’s the most
gratifying thing,” Holden said of his
win in an interview with QNS on Nov.
16. “Right now, it’s the most satisfying
thing other than maybe getting Elmhurst
Park.”
Holden thanked his team of volunteers
for the hard work they put in to
help him get elected.
“My volunteers were great. They
pushed me and supported me,” he said.
“They’re responsible for this, not me.
This was David and Goliath. A group
of volunteers taking down a nine-year
incumbent, this is tremendously satisfying,
and I owe it all to my volunteers
and my wife.”
Back in September, Crowley had
easily defeated Holden, long-time
president of the Juniper Park Civic
Association, in the Democratic primary.
The two had been feuding for
many years over myriad civic matters.
Aft er his primary defeat, Holden — a
registered Democrat for more than
four decades — vowed to continue
his campaign against Crowley on
third-party ballot lines.
Holden’s fortunes turned around
when he secured the Republican Party
line in late September. Prior to then, the
party’s nominee was Joseph Kasper, a
lawyer who ran for a judgeship last
year and had been virtually nonexistent
in the City Council race. Kasper
dropped out of the Council race aft er
being a nomination for a judgeship, enabling
the Queens County Republican
Party to off er its ballot line to Holden,
who ultimately accepted.
Undoubtedly attracting the straight
ticket voter, Holden secured 8,457
votes on the Republican line, according
to the unoffi cial Election Night
results. Those votes, combined with
the votes he received on the Conservative,
Reform and “Dump de Blasio”
lines, put Holden over the top.
In her Nov. 16 statement, Crowley
thanked the people of Glendale,
Maspeth, Middle Village, Ridgewood,
Woodhaven and Woodside for their
support, and vowed to continue to
fi ght for her constituents during her
remaining time in the Council. Her
term ends on Dec. 31.
“The results of this election will not
change my commitment to public service.
I intend to spend the remaining
weeks of my term in offi ce working
tirelessly on behalf of my constituents,”
she said. “Whatever the future holds, I
will bring the same passion and dedication
to fi ghting for our community that I
brought to my work as Council member.”
Holden has yet to indicate which
party he would caucus with in the
City Council. Should he caucus with
the GOP, he would be only the fourth
Republican in the chamber; Queens’
Eric Ulrich and Staten Island’s Joseph
Borreli and Steven Matteo are the others.
Democrats fi ll the other 47 seats.
“That’s not who I am. I don’t believe
the party label defi nes you,” he said.
“I’m from civics so I’ve worked with
both parties, so I hope to do that in the
Council. I’m going to do what’s best for
my constituents.”
Holden’s term begins on Jan. 1, the
same day that Mayor Bill de Blasio
begins his second term in offi ce. The
relationship between the mayor and
new City Council member is already
off to an awkward beginning. When
asked at a post-election press conference
on Nov. 8 about the possibility
of working with Holden, de Blasio
said that “we don’t share values” and,
while he’d try to work with Holden, he
predicted that they wouldn’t see “eyeto
eye” on many issues.
Photo by Anthony Giudice/Ridgewood Times
Robert Holden is now the Councilman-elect for the 30th City Council
District.
How a two-term incumbent lost her City Council seat
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
RPOZARYCKI@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
@ROBBPOZ
Where did it all go wrong
for Elizabeth Crowley on
Election Day?
An incumbent New York City
Council Democrat is normally a shoein
for re-election; a few in Queens
didn’t even have an Election Day
opponent. Those incumbents who
did have competition had no problem
brushing it aside.
Yet in the 30th Council District,
Crowley was the exception. She’s
the only incumbent City Council
Democrat to have lost her seat to a Republican
challenger, Robert Holden,
on Election Day. How did it happen?
The race began in April when
Holden, the longtime president of the
Juniper Park Civic Association, announced
he would challenge Crowley
in the September Democratic primary.
Over the next few months, they
waged a heated battle for the public’s
support primarily through fl iers
that inundated mailboxes around
the district.
Both candidates used the fl iers to
vividly portray the other as public
enemy No. 1; pro-Crowley fl iers had
painted Holden as “Angry Bob,” an
obstructionist blocking progress
on just about anything. On the other
hand, pro-Holden fl iers sought to
paint Crowley as the local equivalent
of de Blasio, whose liberal agenda
clashes with many in the predominantly
conservative district.
Crowley’s tactics seemed to pay
off in the September primary, which
was open only to registered Democratic
voters. She won decisively
with nearly 64 percent of the vote,
but Holden vowed to go on to the
end in November as a third-party
candidate; he had, aft er all, secured
three ballot lines (Conservative, Reform,
Dump de Blasio) in the general
election.
Well before the primary, some
observers believed that Holden stood
a better chance against Crowley in
the general election — open to all
registered voters, regardless of
party. As a self-described Reagan
Democrat, Holden fi gured to secure
more conservative Republicans and
independents in the 30th District,
which includes some of the few
Queens areas that went for Donald
Trump last November.
Things changed in late September,
when Republican City Council candidate
Joseph Kasper dropped out
of the City Council race aft er being
nominated by the Queens County Republican
Party for a judgeship. This
enabled party leaders to select, as his
replacement, Holden, who new Queens
County GOP Chairperson Joann Ariola
described as a natural choice.
Getting the Republican line
proved huge for Holden, and devastating
for Crowley. Holden wound up
getting more than 8,400 Republican
votes on Election Day, capitalizing on
those who turned out in the district
to vote for the Republican mayoral
nominee, Assemblywoman Nicole
Malliotakis.
Anemic turnout also played a role
in Crowley’s demise. Citywide, less
than 23 percent of all registered voters
showed up on Election Day of 2017.
The 30th District similarly suff ered
from voter apathy; in some election
districts, the number of ballots this
year was down more than 50 percent
from the 2016 election.
As much as any political issue debated
between Crowley and Holden
— and, of course, their diff erences
are many — the numbers seem to
indicate that line voters and poor
overall turnout made the 30th City
Council District race of 2017 defy all
trends and expectations.
Read more about this issue
at QNS.com.
