Queens’ closest Council race is also its most predictable
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Democrat Phil Wong and Republican Alicia Vaichunas are locked in what might be the closest, yet inconsequential general election race in the city. Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach/Image via Vaichunas campaign website
By Ryan Schwach
In 2023, a Democrat named Bob Holden won re-election in a Western Queens City Council district by beating out his opponent – a Republican named Bob Holden – by less than 1,000 votes.
Voters that year likely knew that whichever Holden their ballot was cast for, the result would be the same – the conservative incumbent would be re-elected to represent District 30 one last time.
And while voters this year will see two different names on the ballot for the Council district this November, the effect of their vote will remain virtually unchanged.
District 30, which includes the Queens neighborhoods of Maspeth, Ridgewood and Glendale, is a politically complicated corner of Queens. While it maintains a strong Democratic majority, it has long been represented by Holden, who has consistently voted with the Council’s Republican minority and co-chairs the conservative Common Sense Caucus in the Council.
The district is a mix of older, white, conservative-leaning home-owners, and one of the most progressive pockets in the city.
Nonetheless, Holden’s unique brand of politics is guaranteed to reign for at least the next four years.
Running to replace the term-limited lawmaker are two of his staffers — Republican Alicia Vaichunas and Democrat Phil Wong.
Wong and Vaichunas are friends and have said they would hire the other for their office if they are elected.
Both told the Eagle this week they intend to carry on the legacy of their boss as a member of the conservative-leaning Common Sense Caucus in the Council, of which Holden is a co-chair.
Holden has essentially said he doesn’t care who wins because both candidates have effectively received his endorsement.
On its face, the race is one with two ideologically similar candidates, no clear frontrunner and a unique district.
But while it has the makings of a thrilling local election, the end result is effectively decided.
“It's complicated, but it's also anticlimactic,” said political strategist Evan Stavisky. “Because of the two candidates, one of them is going to be a councilmember and one of them is going to be a staff member for that councilmember.”
Much has already been written about the Wong-Vaichunas matchup, their friendship and the lack of open conflict between them while they campaign and continue to work in Holden’s office.
Both told the Eagle before the primaries that they were rooting for one another, and that there was no animosity.
“They're very cordial, they work well together, they both like each other, they both support each other, and they just show up and do the work that they're supposed to do,” said their mutual supervisor, Holden’s Chief of Staff Daniel Kurzyna, who was at one point rumored to be Holden’s chosen successor.
In June, Wong won a tight three-way primary against Dermot Smyth, who was backed by the Queens Democratic political establishment, and Paul Pogozelski, a lesser-known community leader who ultimately became the progressive face in the contest.
Wong won by a little over 300 votes after ranked-choice voting.
He pulled in most of the district geographically, with runner-up Pogozelski locking up the progressive areas in Ridgewood.
Vaichunas had a different route to the general.
Though she initially faced a challenger, she went into the primary election as the only candidate in the contest, solidifying her candidacy this November.
It’s difficult to predict which of the two candidates will prevail next month, given their ideological similarities.
For every one Republican in the district, there are three Democrats. But voters there have routinely supported Holden despite his conservative politics, and overwhelmingly supported Curtis Sliwa against Eric Adams in 2021.
However, Zohran Mamdani won the district handedly in the primary, carried by the deeply progressive areas in Ridgewood.
In other parts of Western Queens, like Astoria and Long Island City, elected officials are almost entirely made up of card-carrying members of the Democratic Socialists of America – like Mamdani, Councilmember Tiffany Cabán and State Senator Kristen Gonzalez.
Only in Ridgewood are progressives simultaneously represented by a DSA elected, Assemblymember Claire Valdez, and a conservative like Holden.
The Democratic majority and Ridgewood’s deep-blue base could give Wong the leg up, regardless of his politics, political observers said.
“It is a decision about the party,” said political strategist Hank Sheinkopf.
The race at the top of the ballot could also have more of an impact on District 30 than anything actually involving District 30.
“[Mamdani] is the deciding factor,” said political strategist Hank Sheinkopf. “If he does well in the district, [Wong] will do well.”
“If the progressive areas turn out, [Wong] wins, and they're likely to turn out because they will be voting for Mamani with tremendous intensity, because they'll be organized to do so,” Sheinkopf said.
Both Phil Wong and Alicia Vaichunas are endorsed by their boss, Councilmember Bob Holden. Photo by John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit
Regardless of who wins, it will be a continuation of Holden’s brand of politics, one that began as an anomaly in the Queens political world.
Holden, who is the second-oldest member of the Council, was elected in 2017.
He defeated longtime Democratic incumbent Elizabeth Crowley in a general election by 134 votes, as a Republican, just a few months after losing to her by more than 1,500 votes in a Democratic Primary.
At the time, moderate Democrats voting with Republicans were not unique, but were beginning to lose favor in New York City.
Six members of the Independent Democratic Conference, a caucus of several conservative leaning Democrats in the State Senate, were unseated in 2018 just as Holden was entering local office.
It was a rare breed in the City Council though, and not even Holden knew exactly how it would work.
The councilmember recalled at the time a conversation with Queens GOP Chair Anthony Nunizato asking how an endorsement would even work.
“I didn’t know that was possible. How is that going to work? Is that even legal,” Holden told City & State he asked Nunziato in 2017.
Even after being elected, Holden didn’t have a straightforward plan.
“This is the God’s honest truth — I don’t think about that stuff,” he told the New York Times. “I’ll probably caucus initially with the Republicans, but I’ll listen to both sides.”
In 2021, Holden trounced progressive Juan Ardila – who would later serve one term in the Assembly – and in 2023 only ran against himself.
Now, in 2025, a one-time anomaly has all but locked up a continuation of conservative representation in a district that remains Democratic.
“No matter who wins, the winner is Bob Holden,” said Stavisky. “He managed to get his staff person to win the Democratic nomination and his staff person to win the Republican nomination…the successor is clearly someone who is going to represent a continuation of his approach.”
