Vickie Paladino Wins Bayside-Douglaston Race For City Council: NY1

NEW YORK CITY — Republican Vickie Paladino kept an early lead in the race for a City Council seat covering Bayside, Douglaston and Whitestone, according to preliminary results.

Paladino had 60.1 percent of votes counted compared to Democratic challenger Tony Avella's 39.9 percent, according to NY1.

She took the stage not an hour after polls closed in front of a sign that declared "Vic-torious."

"You've given me two more years," she said.

NY1 projected that Paladino won the race for the District 19 City Council seat.

The race was one of the biggest in a relatively quiet 2023 election.

Paladino had spent her term facing all manner of controversies — including with a weed-smoking "squatter" — and the last days of her campaign were no different.

A Paladino staffer came under scrutiny for social media posts that referenced a white supremacist slogan, the New York Daily News first reported.