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Bronx incumbents have won their respective primary races, as officials are wrapping up tabulating votes from today’s election.
City Council District 13 incumbent Marjorie Velázquez toppled her opponents Bernadette Ferrara, Irene Estrada and John Perez in the Democratic primary Tuesday night, with nearly 66% of votes and about 96% of precincts reporting already.
Velazquez’s race was already called, and the incumbent secured her nomination ahead of November’s general election.
In her victory speech, Velázquez thanked voters and grassroots supporters for the Democratic vote.
“There are people out there that want to define this community and give a narrative, a false narrative, of what this community is about,” Velázquez said.
She nodded to unionized laborers, local community boards, her family and her staffers Tuesday night, emphasizing that diversity is what her campaign is about.
“Faith will always, always, always triumph over fear,” Velázquez said. “We’re better than that, and we showed that today, and we’re going to continue showing that every single day.”
Unlike the Democratic primary, the Republican side of the District 13 race has been close all night.
After being neck-and-neck since the polls closed at 9 p.m., Kristy Marmorato has now slid past George Havranek. Marmorato has just over 47% of the votes with about 96% of precincts reported, Havranek relatively close behind, with about 44% of the votes. At the moment, the candidates are separated by just a 74-vote margin.
With ranked-choice voting, the District 13 Republican race will head into round two to determine the nominee. They leave behind their third opponent Hasime “Samantha” Zherka.
“I’m not usually a fan of ranked-choice voting, but tonight they may have recruited me,” George Havranek told the Bronx Times Tuesday night.
District 13 — which encompasses the neighborhoods of Throggs Neck, Pelham Bay, Van Nest, City Island and Morris Park — has garnered a lot of interest, not just in the Bronx but citywide this election cycle. That’s mostly because of a controversial development project Velázquez threw her support toward last fall.
The incumbent encouraged her council colleagues to approve the Bruckner Boulevard rezoning during a full vote last October after flipping on her long-held stance in opposition of the project. The rezoning project is slated to bring 349 apartments, including 168 designated as affordable units, to Bruckner Boulevard in Throggs Neck — an area with low density growth management zoning.
Havranek, a Spencer Estates resident, is an early leader in the Bruckner opposition who has championed low-density housing throughout his primary bid. He has also hailed himself as the one who outed the magnitude of the Bruckner rezoning to his Throggs Neck community.
Marmorato, a Morris Park resident, is also an opponent of the project, and said had she been in office last fall she would have voted “no” on the proposal.
In neighboring Council District 14, incumbent Pierina Sanchez has won reelection against Democratic primary challenger Rachel Bradshaw, with just over 76% of the vote with almost 97% of precincts reporting. Sanchez will retain her seat on the council for the next two years — as there is no Republican candidate in the race.
The district includes the Kingsbridge, Fordham, University Heights, Mount Eden and Mount Hope sections of the Bronx.
Sanchez approached her reelection bid through a housing-first lens, she told the Bronx Times in a previous interview, emphasizing the ways she hopes to invest in District 14 during her second term in office. Some of the policies she champions include expanding the supply of housing vouchers, developing more affordable housing, and cracking down on “bad” landlords who neglect both their buildings and their tenants.
Her challenger Brandshaw, a first-time candidate and northwest Bronx resident, also said housing was a significant part of her platform. Had she made it to the council, she said she wanted to more strictly regulate homeless shelters and increase rent to ownership opportunities for Bronxites.
Bradshaw said Tuesday night that Sanchez won her seat back because at the end of the day, the Sanchez campaign had her outnumbered and outspent.
“I’ve never seen an incumbent have to do so much,” she said.
But even so, Bradshaw said she gave the councilmember a good showing.
“I’m proud of what I did, because I woke her up too,” she said.
Another contested race this year is also a historic one.
It’s the first time in the Bronx District Attorney race that two women — incumbent Darcel Clark and challenger Tess Cohen — have battled it out for the Democratic nomination.
Preliminary totals show that Clark will serve her third term as district attorney, after raking in 72% of the vote with about 92% of precincts reporting. There is no Republican candidate this year.
Tuesday night, Clark said she’s going to work hard to tackle gun violence, especially as it pertains to young Bronxites.
“We’re losing a generation of kids, so we’re going to do more to get resources into the Bronx to solve root causes of the crime,” she said.
Clark is the first Black woman in all of New York state to hold a district attorney position. She was elected for her first term back in 2015, although she’s been working for the office for much longer — since 1986.
Both candidates have said they want the DA’s office to be a place Bronx residents can have faith in.
While campaigning earlier today, Cohen said she is proud of her efforts and accomplishments throughout her bid.
In City Council District 12, incumbent Kevin Riley will come back to the council for round two, with 82% of the vote and about 95% of precincts reporting. The councilmember, who assumed the position after the City Council booted his predecessor Andy King in 2020, will likely emerge from the Democratic primary victorious over his two challengers Aisha Ahmed and Pamela Hamilton-Johnson.
— Robbie Sequeira, Emily Forgash, ET Rodriguez, Aliya Schneider, and Emily Swanson contributed to this report
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