Queens election results: All but one Queens Dem headed for victory

Voters cast their ballots at a crowded poll site in Forest Hills on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022. Eagle photo by Rachel Vick

By Jacob Kaye

Polls closed in the third statewide election held in 2022 on Tuesday night. 

The general election featured a number of Republicans running in statewide elections – and in several races in Queens – who threatened to reshape a number of longtime Democratic districts. 

While the competition for the governor’s office and for several Queens State Assembly and Queens State Senate races was stiff, Democrats in the borough managed to hold onto their seats – for the most part. 

At the top of the ballot was the race for governor between Democratic incumbent Kathy Hochul and Republican Lee Zeldin. As ballots were counted Tuesday night, Zeldin appeared to be threatening a close race, however, Hochul prevailed. 

She declared victory in the race shortly after 11 p.m., becoming the first woman elected to serve as the governor of New York in the state’s history.

“I’m not here to make history – I’m here to make a difference,” Hochul said at her victory party on Tuesday night in Manhattan. “Because of you, we will keep making progress – breaking down barriers, breaking glass ceilings, helping New York achieve the greatness it is capable of.”

Zeldin won five of Queens’ 18 Assembly Districts, including districts 23, 25, 26, 27 and 40.  

But while Hochul staved off Zeldin’s Republican challenge, New York State as a whole moved further to the right. 

Throughout the state, Republican candidates flipped at least three of New York’s congressional seats, including the 3rd Congressional District, which covers parts of Eastern and Northern Queens. 

George Santos, the Republican nominee for the seat, beat out longtime Democratic booster Robert Zimmerman for the seat, which was vacated by Rep. Tom Suozzi when he made a bid for the governor’s office earlier this year. 

The Republican gains in Congress in New York could be the deciding factor in a Republican House majority. 

The red shift was also seen in New York’s legislative bodies – though early results show that Democrats appeared to retain control of the super majority in the Assembly, they appear to have lost their super majority in the Senate. 

An upset in South Queens

In perhaps the most surprising result of the night in Queens, Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato was locked in a tight race with Republican challenger Thomas Sullivan in District 23, which covers parks of Ozone Park, Howard Beach and a significant portion of the Rockaway peninsula. 

As of publication, the moderate Democrat appeared to be headed toward trouble. Sullivan, a veteran and small business owner, held a little over 50 percent of the vote with around 94 percent of scanners reported. On Wednesday, 246 votes separated the candidates. 

Should Sullivan win, the area will become the only Republican stronghold in the borough – the district, which saw very little change under this year’s redistricting, overlaps with the City Council district currently represented by Republican Joann Ariola. No other area in Queens is represented by a Republican at more than one level of government. 

Pheffer Amato, whose mother previously occupied her seat, appeared to take Sullivan’s challenge seriously throughout the campaign, releasing a rare online ad that highlighted her endorsement from the Police Benevolent Association. In the ad, Pheffer Amato said that she would fight to “strengthen” the state’s bail laws and vowed not to direct money away from law enforcement budgets. 

Sullivan was likely aided by a large Republican turnout for Zeldin in Howard Beach, where Zeldin won around 80 percent of the vote, and in Breezy Point, where Zeldin picked up around 82 percent of the vote. 

There weren’t a large number of Hochul supporters in the district – even in the election districts where voters went Democratic at the top of their ticket, there weren’t nearly enough of them to hold any serious sway in the district overall. 

Zeldin won the Assembly District by over 7,600 votes. 

The race between Pheffer Amato and Sullivan isn’t over yet. There are, at most, 1,831 valid absentee ballots that have so far been returned to the Board of Elections. Not all of the ballots have been reviewed for validity yet and presumably some have yet to arrive by mail – Election Day was the last day to send absentee ballots in. 

The absentee ballots could swing the election in favor of Pheffer Amato. Should the race finish with a 0.5 percentage point difference or less between the candidates, the ballots will be automatically recounted. 

Close calls and cruising to victory

The only other Queens incumbent whose future as a lawmaker was questioned on Tuesday night was Assemblymember Ron Kim, one of the most progressive state lawmakers in the borough whose district has grown increasingly more conservative over the years. 

With 99 percent of scanners reported, Kim held about a 500 vote lead over Republican challenger Sharon Liao. 

But that wasn’t always the case – the race was tight throughout the night. 

The win came even as Kim’s district voted for Zeldin at the top of the ticket – the Republican nominee won the district by around 500 votes, according to the BOE. 

It’s not the first time Kim’s future in the Assembly, where he represents Downtown Flushing, Linden Hill and Murray Hill, has been brought into question. Kim only narrowly defeated Kenneth Chiu in the Democratic primary for the seat over the summer. 

Heading into Election Day, a tight race appeared to be brewing between State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky and Republican challenger Stefano Forte, who, at the age of 23, has been alive for about as long as the incumbent has been in office. 

Unofficial Election Day results showed Stavisky with a convincing lead in the State Senate District 11 race, claiming nearly 56 percent of the vote with over 94 percent of scanners reported. 

She declared victory in the race around 10 p.m. on Tuesday night. 

“The results of this election is sending a clear message: extremism has no place in our community,” Stavisky said in a statement. “The stakes in this year could not have been higher; with reproductive rights, public safety and civil liberties on the line, this community wants a strong and experienced advocate in their corner.” 

“I am deeply honored to be re-elected in this moment and I will continue to stand against right-wing extremism and hate mongering in all its ugly forms,” she added. 

All other Queens incumbents appeared to cruise to victory on Tuesday. In fact, 17 of the borough’s 33 races featured only one candidate. 

Incumbent Congressmembers Gregory Meeks, Grace Meng, Nydia Velazquez, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, State Senators James Sanders, Michael Gianaris, Jessica Ramos, Leroy Comrie, Joe Addabbo, John Liu, Julia Salazar, Roxanne Persaud, and State Assemblymembers David Weprin, Nily Rozic, Edward Braunstein, Daniel Rosenthal, Andrew Hevisi, Vivian Cook, Clyde Vanel, Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Jeffrion Aubry, Zohran Mamdani, Jenifer Rajkumar and Catlina Cruz all appeared to secure victories.

Steven Raga, who won the Democratic primary for Assembly District 30, appeared to beat Republican candidate Sean Lally, unofficial results show. Raga held an approximately 3,000 vote lead over Lally with 95 percent of scanners reported. 

Juan Ardila, who won the Democratic primary for Assembly District 37 in June, and Kristen Gonzalez, who won the Democratic primary for State Senate District 59 in August, both ran unopposed and will be headed to Albany to serve their first terms representing Queens come January. 

New Queens justices

There were no surprises in the borough’s two judicial races, which included two vacancies to the Civil Court and four to the borough’s Supreme Court. 

Karen Lin and Maria Gonzalez, the two Democratic nominees for the Civil Court, handedly beat out Republican candidates William Shanahan and Daniel Kogan. 

With the victory, Lin, a former Housing Court judge in the Bronx, became one of, if not the only, East Asian Americans to be elected to a countywide judicial seat. Asian Americans are among some of the least represented ethnic or racial groups in the borough’s and city’s courts. 

“I am excited by the opportunity to serve and I am also hopeful that we’re moving in a good direction of having more representation and diversity on the bench,” Lin said during an interview with the Eagle on Wednesday. 

“It feels like many people from all parts of Queens came out to vote and it encourages me because I think they care about having someone whose life experiences reflect familiar life experiences of theirs,” she added. “It gives a context when the judge listens to the case. The law remains the same but all of that context is community specific.”

In the Supreme Court, the four candidates on the ballot were elected to the four vacancies on the court. 

They include Leigh Cheng, Nestor Diaz and Denise Johnson, all of whom secured their first term on the Supreme Court bench. Lee Mayersohn, a current Supreme Court justice, was elected to his second 14-year term on Tuesday. 

Unofficial Results

3rd Congressional District 100% reported

Robert Zimmerman (D) - 44 percent (120,060 votes)

George Santos (R) - 53 percent (142,017 votes)

5th Congressional District 95.6% reported

Gregory Meeks (D) - 74.96 percent (97,132 votes)

Paul King (R) - 24.92 percent (32,287 votes)

6th Congressional District 95% reported

Grace Meng (D) - 63 percent (77,710 votes)

Thomas Zmich (R) - 36.8 percent (45,324 votes)

7th Congressional District 95.5% reported

Nydia Velazquez (D) - 80 percent (108,271 votes)

Juan Pagan (R) - 19.7 percent (26,626 votes)

14th Congressional District 100% reported

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D) - 67 percent (76,681 votes)

Tina Forte (R) - 26.4 percent (30,218 votes)

Desi Cuellar (Conservative) - 1.8 percent (2,095 votes)

State Senate District 10

James Sanders (D) – No challenger

State Senate District 11 95.5% reported

Toby Ann Stavisky (D) - 55.96 percent (34,784 votes)

Stefano Forte (R) - 43.98 percent (27,336 votes)

State Senate District 12

Michael Gianaris (D) – No challenger 

State Senate District 13

Jessica Ramos (D) – No challenger

State Senate District 14

Leroy Comrie (D) – No challenger

State Senate District 15 93.9% reported

Joseph Addabbo (D) - 57 percent (28,416)

Daniel Maio (R) - 42.8 percent (21,331 votes)

State Senate District 16 99% reported

John Liu (D) - 57.67 percent (27,202 votes)

Ruben Cruz (R) - 42 percent (19,921 votes)

State Senate District 18

Julia Salazar (D) – No challenger

State Senate District 19

Roxanne Persaud (D) – No challenger

State Senate District 59

Kristen Gonzalez (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 23 94.3% reported

Stacy Pheffer-Amato (D) - 49.56 percent (15,000 votes)

Thomas Sullivan (R) - 50.37 percent (15,246 votes)

State Assembly District 24

David Weprin (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 25 97% reported

Nily Rozic (D) -  57 percent (10,400 votes)

Seth Breland (R) - 42.7 percent (7,767 votes)

State Assembly District 26 99% reported

Edward Braunstein (D) - 53.87 percent (17,678 votes)

Robert Speranza (R) - 46 percent (15,120 votes)

State Assembly District 27 99% reported

Daniel Rosenthal (D) - 56.27 percent (11,867 votes)

Angelo King (R) - 43.63 percent (9,202 votes)

State Assembly District 28 94.8% reported

Andrew Hevesi (D) - 57.4 percent (19,126 votes)

Michael Conigliaro (R) - 42.5 percent (14,185 votes)

State Assembly District 29

Alicia Hyndman (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 30 95.3% reported

Steven Raga (D) - 57.98 percent (9,885 votes)

Sean Lally (R) - 41.9 percent (7,144 votes)

State Assembly District 31

Khaleel Anderson (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 32 93.8% reported

Vivian Cook (D) - 84.76 percent (15,762 votes)

Marilyn Miller (R) - 8.7 percent (1,610 votes)

Anthony Andrews (WFP) - 6.5 percent (1,223 votes)

State Assembly District 33

Clyde Vanel (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 34

Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 35

Jeffrion Aubry (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 36

Zohran Mamdani (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 37

Juan Ardila (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 38

Jenifer Rajkumar (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 39

Catalina Cruz (D) – No challenger

State Assembly District 40 99% reported

Ron Kim (D) - 51.53 percent (7,193 votes)

Sharon Liao (R) - 48.35 percent (6,750 votes)

Additional reporting by Rachel Vick