Carolyn Maloney Declared Winner In New York Congressional Primary

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney was certified as the winner of the Democratic congressional primary by the New York City Board of Elections, narrowly defeating her closest rival by a few thousand votes.

Maloney, a longtime incumbent representing New York's 12th Congressional District and the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, fended off a primary challenge from Suraj Patel by a margin of about 3,500 votes, according to tallies released by the Board of Elections on Wednesday.

The Board of Elections confirmed the results after a six-week delay to count the record 400,000 absentee ballots cast in the June 23 election.

New York allowed all state residents to vote by mail in the election because of concerns over in-person voting during the coronavirus pandemic.

In Maloney's race, more than half the 98,000 votes cast were mail-in ballots, according to the Board of Elections tallies.

Maloney led Patel by just 648 votes on the day of the election.

Two other challengers, Lauren Ashcraft and Peter Harrison, also vied for Maloney's seat representing the Manhattan's east side and parts of Brooklyn and Queens.

The Board of Elections certified the results as complete even though a federal judge on Monday ordered the agency to count more than 1,000 absentee ballots that were discarded for missing postmarks. The state plans to appeal the order.

Patel, who is a plaintiff in the lawsuit, said he is not conceding the race until all votes are counted.

"The Democratic process does not end when it becomes politically inconvenient," Patel said in a statement Wednesday.