Race to represent only GOP seat in Queens begins
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Democrat Felicia Singh, Republican Joann Ariola and independent candidate Kenichi Wilson will face off to represent District 32 in the City Council. Photos via campaigns/Facebook
By Jacob Kaye
Many City Council seats in Queens are won in the primary. Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans in the borough and in many districts, a Democratic primary win is almost always enough to guarantee a win in November.
While there are several races in Queens that will see a Republican and Democrat square off in the general election, none will likely be as contested as the race for City Council District 32.
Republican candidate and Queens County Republican Party Chair Joann Ariola will face off against Democratic primary winner Felicia Singh and independent candidate Kenichi Wilson for a shot to represent the district which is currently home to the only Republican in the City Council from Queens.
The district, which covers Belle Harbor, Breezy Point, Broad Channel, Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Neponsit, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Rockaway Park, Roxbury, South Ozone Park, West Hamilton Beach and Woodhaven, has been represented by term-limited Council Member Eric Ulrich since he won a special election for the seat in 2009.
Singh says she’s hopeful she can flip the district.
“We need all resources and all hands on deck to make sure we're flipping the seat from red to blue,” Singh told the Eagle. “I am confident we'll have that.”
Singh, who would be the first Indian-American and South Asian person elected to City Council, beat out five Democratic candidates for the nomination, which was officially certified by the Board of Elections last week.
Singh, who lives in the northern part of the district, represents the growing population of South Asian and Indo-Caribbean residents who have lacked representation in city and state government despite growing to represent about 10 percent of the borough’s population.
In total, she received 3,661 first-choice votes and 4,686 votes after the third and final round of ranked-choice tabulation. Ariola, whose Republican voters are outnumbered 4 to 1 in the district, tallied 2,378 votes to secure the nomination.
In total, 2,900 Republicans cast ballots in the June primary in the district. Over 10,270 Democrats cast ballots in the primary, doubling the number of Democratic votes cast compared to the 2018 primary.
The seat has been held by Democrats and Republicans in recent years – before Ulrich took office, now-State Senator Joseph Addabbo held the seat.
To win, Singh has to get the voters who cast ballots for her in June to turn up again and also likely needs to get a few of her Democratic opponents voters to cast ballots for her, as well. But Ariola is confident that some of the more moderate Democrats will swing her way.
“There are voters that voted in the Democratic primary that will be voting for me,” Ariola said. “I know that because they were going into the voting booth and said, ‘I can't wait until I vote for you in November.”
Ariola is running on a public safety and quality of life platform and says that’s what voters most want out of an elected official.
“Even the Democrats who live in that district will vote for the person with a moderate ideology who's going to keep their community safe, who's going to keep their communities clean, who's going to make sure that their children can get back and forth to school and safely,” she said.
Throwing a wrench into the race is Kenichi Wilson, a former Republican who switched parties to run in the Democratic primary last month. While he didn’t end up on the ballot – his petitions were successfully challenged in court – he said he knew it would be smarter to run on the Democratic line rather than challenge the chair of the Republican party.
“There'd be nobody that would be able to beat her in a primary with her current position,” Wilson said. “I personally didn’t think that it would be the end all by switching parties to become competitive but I didn’t think that I would have any shot running as a Republican.”
To flip the seat, Singh said that she’s welcomed the Queens County Democratic Party and hopes her campaign can serve as a unifier for a group that has splintered between progressives and moderates.
“It was really moving to see people across all lines say we have to help Felicia and we have to do it together,” she said. “I do appreciate the fact that everyone, despite whether you’re on the left of the middle, or wherever you fall in the Democratic party, wants to be involved in flipping the seat.”
“That is so beautiful to see,” she added. “Let’s just really make sure that happens.”
