16 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 9, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Election 2017
Incumbent Paul Vallone cruises to re-election in northeast Queens
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Paul Vallone will represent the areas
of Bayside, College Point, Douglaston,
Flushing, Little Neck and Whitestone in
the City Council for another four years.
Th e incumbent candidate received
roughly 57 percent of the vote on Nov.
7, according to unoffi cial results from the
New York City Board of Elections. It will
be Vallone’s second term representing
District 19.
Republican opponent Konstantinos
Poulidis, a 20-year-old Queens College student,
garnered the second most votes with
24.6 percent. Paul Graziano, a land preservationist
who ran under the Reform Party
line aft er being defeated in the Democratic
primary, received 17.9 percent.
Friends, family and supporters began
to pile into Bourbon Street’s private party
room at around 9:30 p.m. for the election
party. A half hour later, the councilman
and his family appeared to applause.
“Th is was such an overwhelming victory,”
Vallone told QNS. “To see everyone
really stand together at every poll site
— people kept coming and saying, ‘We’re
here for you, Mr. Vallone.’ And today,
everyone voted.”
During his campaign, the councilman
touted his dedication to improving the
district’s schools and parks during his
fi rst term in offi ce. Th ose backing his
bid for re-election included Governor
Andrew Cuomo, the United Federation of
Teachers and the Patrolmen’s Benevolent
Association.
“What a diff erence when everyone
comes out and stands together and says,
‘We’re gonna get involved in this election,’”
Vallone continued. “We had religious,
ethnic communities, civic, union
leaders. Everywhere I turned, there was
someone else to say ‘Th ank you’ to.”
Holden claims victory over Crowley in razor-thin City Council race
BY ANTHONY GIUDICE
agiudice@qns.com
@A_GiudiceReport
In what was probably the most heated
City Council race this election cycle,
the battle between two-term incumbent
Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and
Juniper Park Civic President Robert Holden
has proven to be a nail-biter.
According to the New York City Board
of Elections website, at 12:15 a.m. on
Nov. 8, Holden had a slim 133 vote lead
over Crowley for the 30th Council seat,
with 98.97 percent of scanners reporting.
Holden claimed victory late on Tuesday
night, Nov. 7; Crowley has not conceded
as of press time. Th e 30th District includes
Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth, Middle
Village, Woodhaven and Woodside.
Th is months-long battle between the
heated rivals wasn’t settled Election Night
and may not be for several days to come,
as hundreds of absentee ballots still need
to be counted.
As of the last tally, Holden had 10,211
votes, while Crowley got 10,088 total
votes. It was a remarkable turnaround for
Holden, who lost big to Crowley in the
Democratic primary but continued on
as a third-party candidate. Weeks later,
he gained the Republican Party’s support
aft er their nominee, Joseph Kasper,
dropped out to pursue a judgeship.
Republicans in the district, as it turned
out, strongly supported their new candidate
on Election Day, as Holden got 8,457
votes on that line; he garnered thousands
more votes on the Reform, Conservative
and “Dump de Blasio” lines.
Th ere were 32 write-in votes.
At his campaign party held at Connolly’s
Corner in Maspeth, Holden claimed victory
based on these numbers to cheers
from his family, friends and supporters.
“We’re up 133 votes, it’s all in except
the paper ballots,” Holden told his supporters.
“We’re confi dent it will hold true
and I think we won this race.”
In a statement released Wednesday
morning, Crowley said she was “proud of
my record and the campaign my team and I
ran based on truth and hard work.”
“We have done tremendous work over
the last nine years to make our communities
a better place to live and raise a family,
and I am confi dent once all of the
numbers come in, we will have four more
years to build on that success,” she said.
Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich,
who won his re-election campaign
Tuesday, came out to support Holden
and congratulate him on a hard-fought
campaign, and what looks like a victory.
“Th ey say that the pride comes before the
fall, and boy did she fall tonight,” Ulrich said
of Crowley. “Bob Holden showed that you
don’t take the low road to City Hall, that you
can’t use lies and smear, and innuendos and
vicious attacks and think you’re going to get
away with it because the people of this community
went to the poll in historic turnout
and they swept her out of offi ce.”
Ulrich believes that the numbers will
hold up and that Holden will be “an outstanding
member of the City Council.”
Check with QNS later today for further
details about the contest.
Photos by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
Vallone makes his victory speech at Bayside’s Bourbon Street restaurant.
Photo by Anthony Giudice/QNS
Photo caption: Robert Holden with his family at his campaign party after claiming victory in the 30th Council District race.