Voters split in Queens’ most hotly contested local race

Locals in the Rockaways went to the polls on Tuesday to cast their votes in a contentious State Assembly race.  Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach

By Ryan Schwach

Retail politics still appeared to reign in the residential neighborhoods that make up the 23rd Assembly District, home to Queens’ most hotly contested race between a Democratic and Republican candidate in Tuesday's general election.

Communities like Rockaway Park, Far Rockaway and Howard Beach were less concerned about who would control the House come Wednesday morning than they were about speed bumps and safety on their commutes.

Voters in the district headed to the polls to vote for either Pesach Osina, a well-known Democratic operative, or Republican Thomas Sullivan, an Army veteran making his third attempt at the seat.

On Tuesday, voters were mostly split on where they stood on the two men in a race that many believed will come down to the wire on election night.

And while an ideological battle between Democrats and Republicans played out Tuesday on the national stage, voters in AD 23 told the Eagle that hyperlocal issues, and where Osina and Sullivan stand on them, motivated their choice at the voting booth.

“I just was thinking more about civic, general causes for the community,” Tiffany Belcher, a resident of Bay Towers in Rockaway Beach, said. “Improvements around the neighborhood, things that are kind of pertinent to me right now.”

“We have small town issues,” she added.

Belcher told the Eagle on Tuesday that she cast her ballot along the Democratic Party line, but added that she is “not a diehard Democrat.”

Another voter, Jamie M., had similar concerns, but cast her vote for Sullivan.

“I've seen that he's done a lot for the community,” she said. “I felt he deserved my vote.”

Jamie said her main concerns were her safety on her long commute from Rockaway to Manhattan and the cost of her electric bill.

“I think that we all deserve to be safe, because if we don't have public safety and if we don't back our police officers, we don't have anything at all,” she said.

Both Belcher and Jamie M. voted at Dayton Towers, a beachfront Mitchell-Lama development that often is split evenly between Democratic and Republican voters.

During last year’s general election for mayor, the two voting precincts on the border split between former Governor Andrew Cuomo and then-Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani. Cuomo received about 46 percent, while Mamdani and Republican Curtis Sliwa split the rest of the vote almost equally down the middle.

Phil McManus, a retired NYPD cop, has campaigned for Republican candidates outside the Dayton Towers poll site for several years, and is known for carrying a large array of signs for conservative candidates.

He said on Tuesday that he believes Sullivan is going to win.

“Every indicator tells me he's doing better,” he said.

Five years ago, during his first shot at the seat, Sullivan came within 15 votes of the incumbent Stacey Pheffer Amato, who is retiring this year.

Sullivan supporters argued that his chances are better this year because he isn’t running against an incumbent.

Osina, however, has much of the outside support that would generally benefit an incumbent, including the backing of the local Democratic Party, unions and the blessing of the district’s last two representatives.

At a polling site on the far end of the Rockaway peninsula, where Queens borders Nassau County, Pheffer Amato was drumming up support for her chosen successor.

Queens’ closest race is in Assembly District 23 between Pesach Osina, a well known Democratic operative, and Republican and Army veteran Thomas Sullivan. Photos via campaigns

“He's worked hard, I was so proud of him as a candidate,” she told the Eagle. “I think people take it for granted the amount of work that goes in, the amount of doors he's knocked, the amount of meetings he's had.”

P.S. 197, the polling site where Pheffer Amato campaigned Tuesday afternoon, is in the heart of the Far Rockaway Jewish community, which is likely to decide the outcome of the seat.

“The Jewish community is one to watch as a bellwether for the kind of independent voter that can sway elections,” political consultant Ryan Adams said.

The Far Rockaway Jewish community has been known in recent years to split the ticket – voting Republican at the top of the ticket in races like those for president and governor, but shifting blue in local races.

In 2024, the area voted overwhelmingly for both President Donald Trump and Pheffer Amato.

Voters the Eagle spoke to said it was a reasonable assumption that the community would again split the ticket and vote for Republican candidate for governor Bruce Blakeman at the top of the ticket, but Osina locally.

For some voters in Far Rockaway, including couple Alan and Rose, who declined to share their last name or who they voted for, the rise of antisemitism was more concerning to them than the rise in the cost of living.

“The antisemitism is going unchecked,” Rose said. “I think the Democratic Party is moving in the wrong direction on antisemitism.”

“The Democratic Party is not the same Democratic Party that I registered to be a member of,” she added.

As of Tuesday evening, voter turnout was considerably high across the district.

More than 1,000 votes were cast at P.S. 114 in Belle Harbor, a deep red part of the district, as of 4 p.m.

Earlier in the day, turnout was steady but not heavy at Dayton and at the Far Rockaway site.

Osina’s campaign told the Eagle they were seeing high turnout in neighborhoods they hoped to perform well in, specifically in South Asian communities at the northern tip of the district.

Polls close at 9 p.m.

Check back with the Eagle on Thursday for more on the results of the race, or head to QueensEagle.com.