Avella To Run For His Old City Council Seat Repping NE Queens

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Former State Sen. and Independent Democratic Conference member Tony Avella is running for his old City Council seat representing Northeast Queens, a year after losing his Senate reelection bid, records show.

Avella registered as a candidate for the City Council's 19th district with the New York Board of Elections on Aug. 27, according to the agency's database. The filing was first reported by POLITICO.

Avella could not be reached for comment for this article.

The seat is currently held by City Council Member Paul Vallone, who will be term-limited in 2021, the Queens Daily Eagle reported. The district includes Auburndale, Bay Terrace, Bayside, Beechhurst, College Point, Douglaston, Flushing, Little Neck, Malba and Whitestone.

Avella held that City Council seat from 2002 to 2009, then served as State Senator from 2011 to 2018, according to the Queens Daily Eagle. His Senate district included College Point, Whitestone and Bayside.

He was a member of the New York Senate's Independent Democratic Conference, a Democratic faction that caucused with Republicans, effectively giving that party the majority.

Avella lost the 2018 Democratic primary for his seat to former NYC Comptroller John Liu amid a progressive backlash forced six of the IDC's eight members out of office, the Queens Daily Eagle reported.

He ran on a third-party line in the general election against Liu and lost.

Avella had gotten heat from Liu for accepting $100,000 in campaign funds from the Senate Independence Campaign Committee, a campaign account benefitting IDC members through an arrangement that was ruled illegal in 2018, according to the Albany Times-Union.