Bayside Swung Right In 2021 Election, Final Results Show

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Northeast Queens' Republican voters came out in force in this year's general election, newly released vote totals show.

Republican voter turnout in Bayside's District 19 doubled in this year's City Council election compared to the GOP's showing in 2017, according to a Patch review of the results from the four assembly districts that make up the Council area.

Vickie Paladino, who ran on the Republican and Independent party lines in District 19, garnered 12,790 votes in her favor, securing her narrow victory against Democrat Tony Avella. In 2017, by contrast, Republican Konstantinos Poulidis only mobilized 6,347 voters in the area.

A similar dynamic was at play in the mayoral election. In three of the four assembly zones that make up District 19, more voters cast ballots for GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa than Democratic nominee Eric Adams. In 2017 the inverse was true: three of the area's four assembly districts went to Bill de Blasio.

The neighborhood's results conform with a citywide trend, where Republican candidates gained ground in some Council races and GOP mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa performed well in some majority-Asian areas.

Vickie Paladino's win

Going into the Nov. 2 general election, Paladino was largely seen as an underdog in District 19.

She had area recognition, having run for State Senate in 2018 after a video of her shouting at Mayor Bill de Blasio went viral, but longtime northeast Queens politician Tony Avella was favored in the race, which was for his old Bayside Council seat.

As experts pointed out after the race, though, Republicans garnered support from more moderate and conservative voters citywide by focusing on a few salient issues, including public safety concerns and pandemic-related guidelines — both of which were central to Paladino's campaign.

Paladino told Patch that she was running on a public safety-focused platform aimed at overturning the Democrat's "corrupt political monopoly."

She also staunchly opposed the city's COVID restrictions, flouting state guidelines by leading a maskless "COVID conga line" at an indoor GOP event and recently confirming to Patch that she won't heed a Council vaccination requirement.

Her victory, which was certified by the BOE this week, will bring the total number of Republicans in the 51-member Council from three to five.

Curtis Sliwa's popularity in northeast Queens

While mayor-elect Adams overwhelmingly defeated Sliwa minutes after polls closed on Election Night, Sliwa performed better in Bayside compared to his citywide showing.

Overall, Sliwa notched 29 percent of the citywide vote, but in Bayside he garnered 33 percent of District 19's vote.

His performance in the district was also better than the GOP's 2017 showing in the area. Four years ago Republican Nicole Malliotakis earned 28 percent of the vote — a smaller margin than Sliwa's total this year.

In addition to appealing to moderate and conservative area voters — like Paladino — Sliwa's relative success can be partially attributed to northeast Queens' growing Asian community, which came out in force on his behalf, according to The City.

The site reported that Sliwa performed better in majority-Asian and -white districts than he did in Black and Hispanic districts, a finding that conforms with the demographics of District 19, which is mostly populated by white and Asian people.

After seeing that many northeast Queens assembly districts had more votes for Sliwa than Adams this election cycle, Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) implored her fellow democrats to connect with Asian voters.

"Our party better start giving more of a s*** about AAPI voters and communities. No other community turned out at a faster pace than AAPIs in 2020," she tweeted.

Related Article: Tony Avella Concedes Bayside Council Race, Securing GOP Victory