Queens Dem incumbents appear headed for victory, though one race remains tight
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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
All but one Queens Democratic incumbent appeared to somewhat easily withstand challenges from Republican candidates Tuesday night, preliminary vote totals from the Board of Election show.
Queens State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, Assemblymember Ron Kim and Assemblymember Nily Rozic, all of whom appeared to be facing unusually tough challenges from Republican candidates, were headed for apparent victory Tuesday night, several hours after the polls closed.
But the race always expected to be the closest in Queens lived up to its expectation as ballots began to trickle in.
Assemblymember Stacey Pheffer Amato, who beat Republican challenger Tom Sullivan by a mere 15 votes in 2022, was locked in yet another close race with Sullivan on Tuesday, preliminary results showed.
Pheffer Amato led Sullivan by around two and a half percentage points with around 96 percent of the vote counted in District 23, which includes the Rockaway peninsula, Broad Channel, Howard Beach and parts of Ozone Park.
With about 90 percent of the vote counted in 2022, Sullivan led Pheffer Amato by around 200 votes. On Tuesday, Pheffer Amato was leading by around 1,000 votes.
“It’s not over,” Pheffer Amato told supporters on Tuesday night as votes continued to be counted. “But I am ahead.”
Despite the narrow lead, Pheffer Amato was closer to losing her seat in Albany than any other state elected official in Queens.
Stavisky, who faced a challenge from education activist Yiatin Chu, led by around seven percentage points with 90 percent of the vote counted on Tuesday evening. 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.
Kim, who only narrowly defeated his Republican opponent in 2022, also appeared headed for a likely victory on Tuesday night. 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.
Queens congressional Reps. Tom Suozzi, Gregory Meeks, Grace Meng, Nydia Velasquez and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez all appeared to handily beat their Republican challengers on Tuesday. 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.
Larinda Hooks and Claire Valdez also ran unopposed and were respectively voted in to their first terms as members of the Assembly on Tuesday. 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.
See more results from Tuesday’s election in Queens here.
Check back with the Eagle on Wednesday for more on the results of the election.
