Queens Assembly race heading to recount

The District 30 Assembly race between Patrick Martinez and Shamsul Haque will head to a recount.  Photos via campaigns

By Ryan Schwach

The Western Queens Assembly race to replace Assemblymember Steven Raga was too close to call on election night and will now likely head toward a recount.

Shamsul Haque, a progressive former police officer, and Patrick Martinez, the nephew of former Queens County Democratic Party chair Joe Crowley, were separated by only 13 votes in the race to succeed Raga in Queens’ 30th Assembly District, as of Wednesday afternoon.

Martinez was ahead with 2,703 votes with just under 99 percent of precincts reporting, followed by Haque with 2,690 votes. Nepali community leader Somnath Ghimire appeared to play spoiler in the paper-thin race, bringing in 689 votes.

The city’s Board of Elections confirmed that there would be a recount.

In New York State, a recount is triggered when the difference in a race is less than 20 votes, or if the margin of victory is 0.5 percent or less.

A little more than 500 mail-in ballots were sent in for the race, but it wasn’t immediately clear how many of those were left to count.

Martinez, a Queens community board member whose family long held elected positions in Queens, ran with establishment backing and had jumped out to an early election night lead.

“This was a close race,” he said. “Every vote deserves to be counted, and every voice deserves to be heard. That's what democracy is all about, and we look forward to that process playing out. However, when the process is over, we're confident the result tonight will stand, and that our campaign will be victorious.”

Haque quickly closed that election night gap. The progressive who helped Mayor Zohran Mamdani in the Bengali community last year is a former NYPD detective, and raised more campaign cash than any non-incumbent in Queens this year.

“The unofficial results show an extremely close race, and every ballot will be counted,” said Haque in a statement. “Every vote matters, and we look forward to seeing the final results. We have full confidence in the Board of Elections to take the correct course of action and ensure every vote is counted accurately and fairly.”