Who – and what – is on the ballot in Queens?

Queens heads to the polls on Tuesday.  Eagle file photo by Ryan Schwach

By Ryan Schwach

Queens residents will head to the polls on Tuesday to cast their vote in this year’s general election.

Local voters will fill in ballots for the pivotal governor’s race at the top of the ticket between incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul and her Republican challenger, Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. The borough also has 11 state and five congressional contests – although only one of them is expected to be competitive.

There is also a long list of judicial candidates, and races for state comptroller and state attorney general.

On the back of the ballot are five ballot proposals that, if approved, will amend the city’s charter.

Queens voted early in high numbers. As of Thursday evening, 95,982 Queens residents had voted in the first six days of early voting. That is around 4,500 more votes than were cast during the first six days of early voting in the last general election. Through that same time period, 400,137 New Yorkers had voted in total.

Polls open on Tuesday at 6 a.m. and close at 9 p.m. Go to https://findmypollsite.vote.nyc/ to find where you are supposed to vote.

Top of the ticket

The race between Hochul and Blakeman is likely to drive most voters to their polling sites on Tuesday. Recent polls from Siena and Marist both have Hochul up 14 points over Blakeman.

Both candidates have been barnstorming across the city and state over the last several weeks, with both making recent appearances in Queens.

Blakeman is running on a conservative platform that he claims would lower taxes and utility bills. He also claims a Blakeman gubernatorial administration would be tougher on crime than Hochul has been. His running mate is upstate sheriff Todd Hood.

Hochul is running on her record as governor, pushing her resistance to the Trump administration and policies like universal childcare, which she has championed alongside Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Her running mate is former City Council Speaker and lifelong Queens resident Adrienne Adams.

Local voters will fill in ballots for the pivotal governor’s race at the top of the ticket between incumbent Governor Kathy Hochul, and her Republican challenger Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman. Anna Connors/Pool The New York Times via AP

Other statewide races

Incumbent Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and incumbent Attorney General Letitia James are also both on the ballot Tuesday.

DiNapoli is being challenged by Republican Joseph Hernandez, an entrepreneur who escaped Cuba as a kid after his father was detained by the government.

Republican Saritha Komatireddy is challenging James. Komatireddy worked as an assistant district attorney in the Eastern District of New York and as the chief of staff of the Drug Enforcement Administration. She was born in Brooklyn and lived in Manhattan.

The Queens races that matter

There are 16 races on the ballots of Queens voters on Tuesday, but most of them are not expected to be tightly contested.

The only state-level race that could be a toss-up heading into Election Day is the race for the 23rd Assembly District, which encompasses portions of the Rockaway Peninsula and Broad Channel.

The race is between Pesach Osina, a moderate Democrat running with the full support of the retiring incumbent Stacey Pheffer Amato and the Queens Democratic Party, and Thomas Sullivan, an Army veteran and local business owner supported by local Republican groups.

Democrat Pesach Osina and Republican Thomas Sullivan are squaring off in one of Queens’ most interesting races.  Photos via campaigns

Both have run for office before. Osina has run for the City Council, and Sullivan has run twice before in AD23. Osina and Sullivan both champion local issues, including the QueensLink and the Rockaway trauma hospital plan, and want to increase support for the NYPD.

Osina won the primary in June over attorney Mike Scala, dominating in the district’s Orthodox Jewish community despite losing the majority of the district’s voting precincts.

The only other race that may be contested is the re-match between Democratic incumbent Thomas Suozzi and Republican Mike LiPetri in the 3rd Congressional District. The district only includes a small portion of northern Queens. Suozzi defeated LiPetri by three percentage points in 2024.

Other races to look out for

Queens will have several new elected officials after Tuesday, following a flurry of retirements and the victories of the Democratic Socialists of America in Western Queens during this year’s primaries.

DSA members David Orkin, Claire Valdez and Aber Kawas are likely to defeat their conservative opponents on Tuesday. Their fellow DSAers, Samantha Kattan and Brian Romero, who was not endorsed by the group, do not have opponents.

In other parts of the borough, Nathaniel Hezekiah will succeed Assemblymember Vivien Cook and has no opponent, and Joe Crowley relative Patrick Martinez is likely to defeat his Republican opponent and succeed Assemblymember Steven Raga.

Judicial races

Several candidates are running to fill seats on the bench in Queens.

Running to fill three open vacancies in the Supreme Court are Edwin Novillo, Oma Phillips and Gail Adams, all of whom are supported by the Queens Democratic Party. Gary Muraca and David Bellon are running as Republicans, and both are attorneys.

Seeking ascension to boroughwide Civil Court are Democrats Jasmine Valle-Bueno and Edmond Wong and Republicans Michael Mossa and Thomas Barra. Julie Milner is on both the Republican and the Democratic lines.

Democrat Janet Ellen Keller and Republican Stephen Dachtera are running for Civil Court, 2nd Municipal District, which includes Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, Corona, Sunnyside, Woodside and parts of Forest Hills.

Democrat Michelle Ann McSweeney-Ortiz and Republican William Shanahan are running for the Civil Court, 3rd Municipal District, which includes Maspeth, Ridgewood, Glendale, Ozone Park, South Ozone Park and Howard Beach.

Edward Irizarry, a Democrat, is running unopposed for the Civil Court, 4th Municipal District which includes Jamaica, Rochdale, Springfield Gardens, Cambria Heights, Hollis, Queens Village and Glen Oaks.

Ballot props

There are also five ballot proposals on the two-page ballots Queens voters will be filling out on Tuesday.

All five come from the Commission on Government Efficiency, or COGE, the New York City Charter Revision Commission created in May by Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Four of the five are geared towards making government faster.

The following descriptions are via NYC Votes

Proposal 1 would loosen the permitting process for public sidewalks and streets to speed up the installation of accessibility ramps, benches, electrical poles, bus shelters and outdoor cafes.

Proposal 2 would change the city's contracting process. It would also require regular, quarterly meetings of the Procurement Policy Board.

Proposal 3 would speed up major transportation projects like bike lanes and road redesigns, the sale or lease of certain city-owned properties, and the acquisition of office space for city employees.

Proposal 4 would streamline construction projects by adding more agency officials to approve construction projects, create a centralized construction permitting system, and move waterfront construction permitting to the Department of Buildings.

Proposal 5 would set savings targets for the city’s Rainy Day Fund, and require the city to regularly report on how it puts money into it.