In New York’s first primary election since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, tens of thousands of voters cast their ballots for federal, state and other elected offices.
But with tens of thousands of absentee ballots waiting to be counted, many of these primary races are up in the air, and won’t be decided for another week or so.
That’s exactly the case in north Brooklyn, where incumbents are holding on to small leads over upstart challengers.
We’ll start with the 12th Congressional District, where longtime Representative Carolyn Maloney is leading second-time candidate Suraj Patel by a small margin. CD-12 includes the East Side of Manhattan, Long Island City and Greenpoint.
With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Maloney has 16,473 votes, or 41.56 percent of the vote. Patel, a former Obama administration official, activist and businessman, has 15,825 votes, good for nearly 40 percent.
Two progressive newcomers, Lauren Ashcraft and Peter Harrison, collected 5,268 votes (13 percent) and 1,933 votes (5 percent) in the race.
It wasn’t nearly as close in the 7th Congressional District, where Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, who represents large swaths of north Brooklyn, topped challenger Paperboy Love Prince, 32,965 (79.5 percent) to 8,278 (20 percent).
Moving onto the State Senate, first-term State Senator Julia Salazar easily defeated her more conservative challenger, Andy Marte, with 18,101 votes, good for a whopping 84 percent.
Marte only received 3,394 votes, or about 16 percent of the district.
Another close race to keep an eye on is the 50th Assembly District, where longtime Assemblyman Joe Lentol is ahead of challenger Emily Gallagher.
With 98 percent of precincts reporting, Lentol, who has spent decades in office and whose family has a long legacy in the district, won 6,608 votes, or 57 percent of the vote.
Gallagher, a well-known community activist making her second bid for elective office, won 4,845 votes, or 42 percent.
This is a race that will be decided by absentee ballots.
One last race we’re keeping an eye on is the Female State Committee Member for the 50th Assembly District.
Longtime incumbent Linda Munucci is ahead of challenger Kristina Naplatarski, 5,324 votes (55.9 percent) to 4,186 votes (43.7 percent).
Read more about the race here.