18 DECEMBER 24, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
2020 YEAR IN REVIEW
New faces highlight shift of political landscape in Queens
BY JACOB KAYE
JKAYE@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
Like nearly everything else this
year, COVID-19 altered politics
in Queens in 2020.
Despite changes to the election
schedule, campaigns and voters’ priorities,
Queens saw the election of a
handful of new faces, the re-election
of some old ones and the election of
the borough’s first Black man as
borough president.
Let’s take a look back at the highlights
of politics in Queens this
year.
CAMPAIGNING IN A
PANDEMIC
In a presidential election year,
the borough saw candidates upend
proven campaign practices and shift
their messages online. As the pandemic
forced people into their homes
and away from others, connecting
with voters became more difficult,
but more important than ever, as local
action to slow the spread of the
virus and counter its effects became
dire.
Rather than handing out leaflets,
some candidates running for office
in Queens began handing out food.
“The first thing that changed is that
we focused on getting emergency
supplies to individuals,” said Anthony
Miranda, who ran for Queens
borough president this year.
According to several people who
ran for office this year, the pandemic
only reinforced their passion for the
issues they were campaigning on
prior to the virus.
“My platform is for universal
healthcare,” said Jessica González-
Rojas, who will take office in the New
York State Assembly for the first
time in January after winning her
election in District 34. “They say the
virus doesn’t discriminate but it does.
Health inequalities are multiplied
for people of color and low-income
communities. That’s something I’ve
been fighting my entire life.”
Despite making changes to the
election schedule in an effort to slow
the spread of the virus, primaries in
the borough were still held in June.
The elections saw a solidification
of some of the trends Queens had
been experiencing prior to the
pandemic.
Like Congresswoman Alexandria
Ocasio-Cortez before them, a handful
of first-time progressive candidates,
including González-Rojas, knocked
off longtime incumbents in the June
primary.
In northwest Queens, Democratic
Socialist of America member
Zohran Mamdani narrowly beat out
incumbent Aravella Simotas. He’ll
represent Astoria in the Assembly
beginning next year. González-Rojas
bested Michael DenDekker, who
served in the office since 2009.
Though not a first-time candidate,
Jenifer Rajkumar defeated
incumbent Mike Miller in the race
to represent Glendale, Ozone Park,
Richmond Hill, Ridgewood and
Woodhaven.
Not only did campaigning look different
this year, but election night
did as well.
Similar to the presidential election,
voters across the borough had
to wait, sometimes for weeks, to hear
the results of both the summer primaries
and the fall general election.
Increased use of absentee ballots and
early voting — both utilized to slow
the spread of COVID-19 — meant that
the city’s Board of Elections officials
had to count ballots in the weeks following
election day.
Though the elongated count
created some anxiety amongst
candidates and voters alike, a clear
winner for each seat was eventually
determined.
QUEENS PICKS A NEW
BOROUGH PRESIDENT
On Jan. 6, 2020, Melinda Katz was
sworn in as Queens district attorney,
leaving the Queens borough
president seat open. Though Sharon
Lee took office as acting borough
president, the race to fill the seat
was on.
Initially, voters were to head to
the polls in March to pick a new
borough president in a special
election. However, a few days after
early voting for the race began and
as COVID-19 began to infect more
and more New Yorkers, the election
was canceled.
Instead, residents would vote for
borough president in June primary
and elect a borough president in
November, who would serve until
January 2022, when Katz’s term was
set to end.
In the June primary, former Councilman
Donovan Richards bested
four other candidates, including
former Councilwoman Elizabeth
Crowley, retired NYPD Sergeant
Anthony Miranda, Councilman
Costa Constantinides and businessman
Dao Yin.
Facing off against Republican
challenger Joann Ariola, Richards
won the November election handily
and was sworn in as borough
president — the first Black man to
ever do so — on Dec. 2.
LOOKING FORWARD TO
2021
While COVID-19 may have made
2020 a hectic year in politics, 2021
isn’t looking to be any less chaotic.
Currently, there are more than
100 people running for City Council
in Queens. The borough will also
see two special elections in February
– on Feb. 2, voters will replace
Rory Lancman in District 24 and on
Feb. 23, voters will replace Donovan
Richards in District 31.
Next year will also see the implementation
of ranked-choice voting,
in which voters select their top five
choices – ranked one through five
– instead of only picking their top
candidate.
The use of ranked-choice voting
in the Feb. 2 special election, which
will be the first time it is used in
New York City, was recently challenged
in court.
The complainants, which included
Council members I. Daneek Miller
and Adrienne Adams, alleged that
the city has not educated voters on
the new system. Their lawsuit failed
in court last week.
Despite having just voted for a
new borough president, voters will
again vote for the borough’s executive
this year.
Because Katz’s term was set to end
in January 2022, residents will vote
for borough president in the June
primary and again in the November
general election in 2021. The winner
will take office when Katz’s term
was to end.
Photo by Mark Hallum
Board of Elections workers review an absentee ballot in Queens on July
8, 2020. Photo by Dean Moses
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