Queens Dem incumbents sweep
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Democratic Incumbent Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato was locked into yet another tight race with Republican Tom Sullivan on Tuesday night. Unlike two years ago, however, Pheffer Amato led on election night. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Jacob Kaye, Ryan Schwach and Noah Powelson
Despite losing big nationally, Democrats in Queens appeared to win all their races in the World’s Borough, preliminary vote totals from the Board of Election show.
All but one Queens Democratic incumbent state lawmaker easily withstood challenges from Republican candidates Tuesday night. Democratic incumbents running to retain their seats in Congress also all won handily over their GOP challengers.
In fact, no Republican candidate running locally in Queens won on Tuesday.
Queens State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Assemblymember Ron Kim and Assemblymember Nily Rozic, all of whom faced unusually tough challenges from Republican candidates, were headed for apparent victory Tuesday night, several hours after the polls closed.
Even Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato, whose ability to hold onto her seat was the most precarious of all state lawmakers in Queens, was victorious over her Republican challenger, Tom Sullivan.
The race between Pheffer Amato and Sullivan did, however, live up to expectations – it was, by far, the closest race in Queens.
‘In spite of it all’
Pheffer Amato, who beat Sullivan by a mere 15 votes in 2022, declared victory on Wednesday after leading her opponent by around two and a half percentage points with around 97 percent of the vote counted on election night.
“This win is a win for all of us – for the working families; for the cops and firefighters; for the teachers, nurses, trade unionists and city workers; for everyone who stood up to my opponent’s campaign of misinformation and extremism and voted their conscience in this critical election,” Pheffer Amato said in a statement issued around 4:30 p.m. “In spite of it all, we stayed united and we won."
The ability for Pheffer Amato to declare victory in the race less than 24 hours after the polls closed was a big break from the race two years ago.
With most of the votes counted on election day in 2022, Sullivan led Pheffer Amato by around 240 votes.
But on Wednesday, Pheffer Amato’s lead was around 1,000 votes in the district that includes the Rockaway peninsula, Broad Channel, Howard Beach and parts of Ozone Park.
Despite coming so close to victory two years ago, Sullivan lost his fourth attempt for political office on Wednesday. He gave a somber speech from his native Breezy Point on Tuesday night.
“Were not in a good spot,” he said. “We’re going to wait, see how this plays out.”
Electorally, Pheffer Amato gained votes in predominantly red districts like Howard Beach and the Orthodox Jewish population in Far Rockaway.
The largest Orthodox voting district in Far Rockaway supported her with 86 percent of the vote, while also supporting President-elect Donald Trump with 84 percent of the vote.
In Ozone Park, Pheffer Amato flipped three election districts in her favor. The largest district, which lies immediately adjacent to the Resorts World Casino, was fully reversed, with Pheffer Amato pulling in 52 percent of the vote where Sullivan won by the same margin just two years ago.
In 2022, Sullivan was powered to his near victory by large Republican turnout for gubernatorial candidate Lee Zeldin. And while turnout in Republican districts was up on Tuesday, it didn’t appear to give Sullivan the same boost.
Pheffer Amato lost votes in many of the predominantly Black parts of the district, and Sullivan gained votes in his deep red areas on the Western end of the peninsula and Broad Channel, similar to Trump’s inroads nationwide.
Although, it wasn’t enough to make up for the sharp gains Pheffer Amato made in the Orthodox Jewish and South Asian parts of the district.
Nonetheless, it was as close as a Republican would come to winning in Queens on Tuesday.
Stavisky’s incumbency wins out
State Senate District 11’s incumbent of 25 years, Toby Ann Stavisky, won another term in the New York State legislature, defeating Republican education activist Yiatin Chu on Tuesday.
While Chu proved to be Stavisky’s toughest opponent to date, Stavisky defeated Chu rather handily.
While Stavisky maintained comfortable control of her office, several factors made Chu hopeful for a Republican upset. In 2022, the year Stavisky earned her lowest vote total since taking office in 1999, the incumbent Democrat defeated her Republican opponent by around 13 percentage points.
Chu managed to raise three times as much in campaign funds compared to the previous Republican candidate and looked to take advantage of the race at the top of the ticket.
However, those factors were not enough. Stavisky led by around seven percentage points with 96 percent of the vote counted on Tuesday evening.
Chu conceded the race to her staff and supporters during an election watch party in Whitestone Tuesday.
“I am sad for our district and for New Yorkers,” Chu said. “We will have two more years of the ‘Go along, get along’ policy of the supermajority in Albany.”
While Chu lost, she is still the strongest challenger Stavisky has faced. Chu saw particularly strong success in Whitestone and parts of Douglaston, even outperforming Trump in some election districts.
On election day, Douglaston voter Chris Ruddy told the Eagle he voted for Chu and other Republicans on the ballot because of their stances against bail reform and migrant shelters. However, Ruddy also said the one Republican he didn’t vote for was Trump.
Throughout the campaign, Chu had attacked Stavisky on her age and accused the 85-year-old of being out of touch with the district’s constituents. But voters who spoke to the Eagle said otherwise.
“I think Stavisky is a long-term supporter of her constituents and she’s proven that,” voter Bora Lee told the Eagle. “She does a really good job hearing people out and addressing their challenges.”
Other close Queens races
A few other races in Queens were close, but still solid victories for incumbent Democrats.
Kim, who only narrowly defeated his Republican opponent in 2022, appeared headed for a likely victory on Wednesday. With 96 percent of the vote counted, Kim led Republican Philip Wong by around 10 percentage points.
Rozic also saw her closest victory since her first election a dozen years ago in 2022. This year, her race appeared to be even tighter. Nonetheless, she appeared to be headed for victory.
Rozic led Republican Kenneth Paek by around five percentage points with 90 percent of scanners reported.
Not so close
In the remainder of the borough, Queens Democrats either won with ease or were officially re-elected after running unopposed.
In Congress, Reps. Tom Suozzi, Gregory Meeks, Grace Meng, Nydia Velasquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez all appeared to beat their Republican challengers on Tuesday by wide margins.
As did State Senators James Sanders, Michael Gianaris, Joe Addabbo and John Liu.
State Senators Jessica Ramos, Leroy Comrie and Kristen Gonzalez ran unopposed and will return to their seats in Albany next year.
In the State Assembly, David Weprin, Ed Braunstein, Sam Berger, Andrew Hevesi, Alicia Hyndman and Steven Raga, easily defeated their Republican opponents.
Assemblymembers Catalina Cruz, Clyde Vanel, Zohran Mamdani, Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, Khaleel Anderson, Vivian Cook and Jenifer Rajkumar ran unopposed.
Joining the returning incumbents in Albany this year will be two new assemblymembers from Queens, both of whom ran unopposed and were officially elected into office on Tuesday.
Larinda Hooks and Claire Valdez will represent separate portions of Western Queens in Albany come January.
Hooks defeated controversial former State Senator Hiram Monserrate in the Democratic primary for District 35 over the summer while Valdez defeated disgraced Assemblymember Juan Ardila and Democratic Party-backed Johanna Carmona in the primary race for District 37.
“I am honored to be the next assemblymember to serve the working families of AD37,” Valdez said in a tweet. “See you in Albany.”
See more results from Tuesday’s election in Queens here.
This story was updated on Thursday, Nov. 7, at 7:30 a.m.
