Zohran Mamdani Unseats Aravella Simotas In Astoria Assembly Race

ASTORIA, QUEENS — New York Assembly Member Aravella Simotas on Wednesday conceded to challenger Zohran Mamdani, a first-time candidate for elected office and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Mamdani won the Democratic primary by just over 300 votes, according to an internal tally by his campaign.

The NYC Board of Elections has finished counting all votes, including absentee ballots, but has not officially called the race, Mamdani said in a tweet.

Mamdani's primary win all but guarantees him a seat in the state legislature, since no one is registered to run against the Democratic nominee in the November general election.

"I’m honored and humbled by the trust placed in me by the voters of Astoria," Mamdani said in a statement Wednesday. "But the movement you helped us build can’t end here. It has to last beyond any one election or any one candidate. We have to build something that will endure for years to come, to fight for a New York for the many, not the few."

I congratulate @ZohranKMamdani for his win and a well-run election. I wish you the best as you begin your legislative career and fight for the 36th AD.
— Aravella Simotas (@AravellaSimotas) July 22, 2020

We're still at the BoE waiting for them to officially scan the ballots, but the absentee count in our race is over.

And based on our internal tally, we finished ahead by over 300 votes - more than enough to avoid a recount & ensure our victory.

Socialism won. pic.twitter.com/ELVh8zZbM6
— Zohran Kwame Mamdani (@ZohranKMamdani) July 22, 2020

Mamdani won more than half of the 8,000 ballots cast at the polls, leading Simotas by about 600 votes, according to Board of Elections data.

But those tallies did not yet include an estimated 10,000 absentee ballots mailed in by voters in the district, which covers a swath of Astoria.

Mamdani will join a number of newcomers in Albany, including Jessica González-Rojas, who ousted Assembly Member Michael DenDekker from his seat representing Jackson Heights, and Jenifer Rajkumar, who appears primed to unseat Assembly Member Mike Miller of Woodhaven.

Mamdani is among several DSA-backed candidates who successfully defeated incumbents in the June 23 primary, such as tenant organizer Marcela Mitaynes and nurse Phara Souffrant Forrest, who both defeated longtime Brooklyn assembly members.