Surprise in Civil Court: Republican candidate leads in judicial race
/
Republican candidate for Queens Civil Court Joseph Kasper held an unofficial lead over Paul Vallone on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Kasper
By Jacob Kaye
Joseph Kasper runs for a seat on the bench nearly every year on principal. However, the next time he runs, he’ll likely be running for reelection.
In what was one of the more surprising results of Tuesday’s election, Kasper, a perennial Queens judicial candidate, held the lead over Democratic nominee and City Councilmember Paul Vallone in the race for Civil Court judge in Queens’ 3rd Municipal Court District, unofficial Board of Elections results show.
Kasper, the Republican nominee in the race, was up by around 1,700 votes with 98 percent of scanners counted Wednesday morning. With around 2,400 absentee ballots in the district left to count, Vallone would have to win over 70 percent of the uncounted ballots in order to secure the victory.
Not only does Kasper’s lead come in a borough where Democrats greatly outnumber Republicans, but his opponent is about as strong an opponent one could run against.
Vallone, who has served in the council since 2013, is a member of what may be the last political dynasty in Queens.
Vallone’s grandfather, Charles J. Vallone, served as a judge in Queens County Civil Court from 1955 until his death in 1967, his father, Peter Vallone, served as city councilmember in Astoria from 1974 until 2001 and his brother, Peter Vallone Jr., served as a city councilmember in the same seat as their father until 2012 when he became a judge in Queens County Civil Court.
Should Kasper’s lead hold, it will be the first time a Republican nominated judicial candidate beat out a Democratic candidate in a general election in recent history.
“I feel like I have to poke myself with a pin right now to wake up,” Kasper told the Eagle. “To quote William F. Buckley, ‘If I win, I’ll demand a recount.’”
Kasper said he was “cautiously optimistic” that his lead would hold after all the absentee ballots have been counted.
“I counted no chickens before they hatched, however complacency is nothing I've ever been accused of,” he said. “I am aware of the amount of paper and I greatly believe that when the paper is counted, that I will be able to hold on to the lead.”
His opponent expressed a similar sentiment.
"We are confident in our election to become a Judge in our great civil court,” Vallone said in a statement. “In a race this close we have to wait for all absentee and affidavit votes before a final outcome can be determined. Whatever the ultimate decision, it has been a true honor to stand with the families and voters of the 3rd Judicial District of Queens County."
Vallone ventured out of his northeast Queens district for the judicial race – the 3rd Municipal Court District’s westernmost portion covers Maspeth, Middle Village and Ridgewood, before snaking southeast through Ozone Park and ending in Howard Beach.
Kasper said his presence in the district served him well.
“I know it was a formidable task and I think that I, perhaps, had somewhat of an advantage in that I ran previously in the district and I'm known in a lot of community affairs in the South and Western queens area,” Kasper said.
While Vallone’s name is well known throughout the borough, voters in Queens have also seen Kasper’s name on their ballot for decades.
His first run for a judicial seat came in 1995. He then ran every year between 1998 and 2000, before taking a break. He resumed his judicial campaigns after 2010 and has run nearly every year, mostly for Queens Supreme Court, since.
Over the summer, the Queens Republican Party nominated Kasper to run on their party’s line for one of the six vacancies on the Supreme Court in the county.
Though he’d run many times before, Kasper, who believed his chances in the 3rd Municipal District were good, declined.
“I thought, as a matter of principle, I just couldn't do it because I believed the race was winnable,” he said. “I thought about it and I declined.”
Kasper said this campaign felt different. For starters, his 20-year-old son, who is currently attending St. John’s University, was running his campaign.
Though Kasper’s online presence was minimal – he didn’t have a campaign website and his official Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2019 – he said he got his name out there the old fashioned way.
“We worked very hard,” Kasper said. “I was able to look at a room full of volunteers and supporters and be able to say a lot of them were very grateful clients I had over the years. I also had the support of a lot of young Republicans and fellow travelers that my son was able to motivate to get out and volunteer. I was honored to have a lot of enthusiastic young supporters.”
The potential victory, he said, wouldn’t have been possible without his son, Joseph Francis Xavier Kasper, adding that he was most excited for him.
“I am more pleasantly surprised on behalf of him,” Kasper said. “I think he would have been very upset if his very great efforts had come to naught.”
Nonetheless, the victory, should it hold, was unlikely.
“It’s unexplainable,” a longtime judge told the Eagle on the condition of anonymity.
Election attorney Jerry Goldfeder said that part of Kasper’s success could be attributed to the general strong showing by Republicans across the borough, city and state this week.
“The Republicans did extremely well throughout Suffolk and Nassau, and certain parts of New York City so I’m not sure it had anything to do with the qualifications of Vallone, he just so happened to be running in a year when Republicans were mobilized,” Goldfeder said.
Kasper himself was surprised at his success. His campaigns for office are normally rooted in principle and not in the idea that could actually win, he said.
“There were many years that I was a candidate of the party because I believed very strongly in the two party system and that voters of all parties needed a choice, but, honestly many of those years, I was sort of the loyal opposition, the name on the ballot,” Kasper said.
“This race, I believed very strongly along with many of my supporters, that it was winnable,” he added.
