The power of incumbency was on display Tuesday, as most officeholders appeared on track to retain their seats. In the city's coronavirus-impacted primary election, final tallies will have to wait until an anticipated wave of absentee ballots are counted.
In April, Gov. Andrew Cuomo ordered state election officials to send postage-paid absentee ballot applications to all voters. The city Board of Elections received 708,421 applications. Absentee ballot counting started after polls closed and in some races could continue for days or weeks until the Board of Elections receives all the ballots postmarked by the June 23 deadline.
Mail-in and absentee ballots are still being counted. But here is the latest of the projected winners in some key nabes:
9th Congressional District — Crown Heights, Brownsville, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Midwood, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts-Gardens, Park Slope
Incumbent U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke defended her congressional seat from four competitors. Early results showed that she won nearly 60 percent of the vote. Clarke was expected to face a serious challenge from Adem Bunkeddeko, the son of Ugandan refugees with a Harvard MBA, who came close to unseating her in the 2018 Democratic primary. He won about 21 percent of the vote.
7th Congressional District - Bushwick, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Dumbo, East New York, East Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Gowanus, Red Hook, Sunset Park, and Williamsburg;
Rep. Nydia Velázquez was on pace to return to Congress with a huge victory over entertainer Paperboy Love Prince. The 14-term incumbent won about 73 percent of the vote with nearly all the polls reporting results.
43rd Assembly District - Crown Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Wingate and Flatbush
Incumbent Assemblywoman Diana Richardson handily defeated Jesse Hamilton, winning at least 67 percent of the vote. Hamilton was trying to make a political comeback after losing his state Senate seat in 2018 to Sen. Zellnor Myrie. He was one of six former Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) Senate members to lose their reelection bid two years ago.
56th Assembly District - Bedford-Stuyvesant, Northern Crown Heights
Stefani Zinerman finished ahead of Justin Cohen with about 52 percent of the vote. The two candidates competed to replace Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright, who ran for state Senate this election cycle.
57th Assembly District - Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights
Assemblyman Walter Mosley appeared to come away with a close victory over Phara Souffrant Forrest, a Democratic Socialist. He won about 50 percent of the vote to Forrest's 45 percent.
18th Senate District - Bushwick, Cypress Hills, Greenpoint, Williamsburgh, parts of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, East New York
Incumbent, Sen. Julia Salazar, a Social Democrat, won by a huge margin - nearly 76 percent of the vote - against Andy Marte, a former staffer to Brooklyn Democratic Party boss Vito Lopez. The contest got personal at times and raised issues about gentrification in the district.
25th Senate District - Bedford-Stuyvesant, Fort Greene, Boerum Hill, Red Hook, Sunset Park, Gowanus, and Park Slope
Jabari Brisport, a Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate, appeared to have pulled off an upset victory over Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright, in a three-way race that included progressive candidate Jason Salmon. With nearly 50 percent of the vote, Brisport, an activist and public school teacher, would replace retiring Sen. Velmanette Montgomery.
