Shocking upsets and a new borough president
highlight shift of political landscape in Queens
Donovan Richards is sworn as Queens borough president. Photo by Mark Hallum
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | DEC. 25-DEC. 31, 2020 11
BY JACOB KAYE
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 lowincome
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 firsttime
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.F
acing 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 rankedchoice
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.
2020 YEAR IN REVIEW
/QNS.COM
