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Close Calls

By Ross Barkan 2/27 2:41pm

Close Calls

(Photo: Facebook)

Donovan Richards Wins Queens Special Election

Donovan Richards declared victory today in the Queens special election to replace his mentor, former Councilman James Sanders, putting to rest fears that the election’s outcome would be unknown for weeks or even months in what had become a racially-charged contest.

With all absentee and affidavit votes counted, Mr. Richards padded his razor-thin 26-vote Election Day margin with another 133 votes, while his main competitor, Pesach Osina, only gathered an additional 80. This brought the unofficial tally to 2,646 for Mr. Richards and 2,567 for Mr. Osina, a wide enough margin to avoid an automatic recount. The results will be certified next week. Read More

By Colin Campbell 11/07/12 11:30am

Close Calls

Democrats managed to hold onto, or win, a large number of seats in the New York City area. (Photo: WNYC.org)

Democrats Have a New York State Government Takeover in Their Sights

Although most of the attention last night was rightfully placed on the presidential race, a number of important state legislative campaigns were also waged, which, depending on how they turn out, could potentially have a significant impact on the legislation and policies that emerge out of Albany in the coming years. Notably, control of the New York State Senate hangs in the balance, and if Democrats win there, the party would control the trifecta of the state government as they already have an overwhelmingly majority in the State Assembly and a similarly aligned governor.

With one temporary exception, the senate has been continuously controlled by the GOP in recent years. Despite a large fundraising edge and an aggressive gerrymander which appeared to have locked in a Republican majority for the immediate future, a number of surprisingly strong Democratic victories pushed back against the conventional wisdom that they had no chance at reversing their fortunes this year, Read More

By Hunter Walker 6/27/12 8:29pm

Close Calls

Congressman Charlie Rangel arriving at his election night party. (Photo: Getty)

Charlie Rangel’s Margin Of Victory Is Getting Smaller

Though the victory and concession speeches have already been made, votes are still being counted in the Upper Manhattan race between longtime Congressman Charlie Rangel and State Senator Adriano Espaillat and it may have been a far closer contest than it was originally thought to be. In the wee hours this morning, the City Board of Elections released unofficial totals based on 100 percent returns, but this afternoon, the Associated Press published a report that said results from 33 of the 506 precincts in the 13th congressional district race still have yet to be counted. Those returns are in addition to the paper affidavit ballots that are not usually included in uncertified, unofficial election night totals.

Mr. Rangel’s campaign issued a statement saying they were still “confident” in his victory in spire of the outstanding returns.

“We are going through the process like we do after every election in order to ensure each vote is counted,” said Ronnie Sykes, a campaign spokeswoman for Mr. Rangel. “We are confident that at the conclusion of this process we will be victorious.” Read More