While the numbers are not yet official, Councilman Ritchie Torres declared himself the winner in the NY-15 Congressional race yesterday.
The BOE reported that it distributed more than 700,000 absentee ballots to registered Democrats, yet only 77,000, or 11 percent, were returned. There are likely more absentee ballots to be counted, Torres views his lead as insurmountable.
The progressive is ready for the next chapter in his life.
UPDATE: The counting is all but over. On Primary Day, we were ahead by 4516 votes. As of yesterday evening, our lead had grown to 7803 (far larger than the # of uncounted ballots). Even if our nearest rival were to win every single one, we would remain ahead by a wide margin. pic.twitter.com/VJ2Z4Y5B1u
— Ritchie Torres (@RitchieTorres) July 22, 2020
In the 12-candidate race in the 15th Congressional District, Torres led the polls with 12,421 votes or 29.44 percent of the total votes. Assemblyman Michael Blake and Councilman Ruben Diaz Sr. each received 7,905 (18.74%) and 6,032 (14.30%) of the votes, while Samelys Lopez and Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez earned 5,387 (12.77%) and 4,648 (11.02%) of the votes respectively.
He will join Mondaire Jones, who also won his primary for NY-17, in becoming the first two Black openly LGBTQ members of Congress.
“I want to thank the voters of NY15, as well as my supporters here and elsewhere, for entrusting me with the Democratic nomination,” Torres said on Twitter. “Looking forward to fighting for the essential workers and mothers of the South Bronx. Stay tuned!”
