Facing Defeat, 2 Bayside Lawmakers Pin Hopes On Absentee Ballots

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — New York City poll workers on Tuesday started counting more than 700,000 absentee ballots cast in the 2020 Election, including thousands of votes that will decide the fate of two Bayside lawmakers whose races have still not been called.

U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi, who represents Bayside and much of Long Island's North Shore in Congress, and Queens Assembly Member Edward Braunstein both trailed their Republican opponents by several thousand votes heading into the absentee-ballot count Tuesday.

Suozzi has told supporters he is confident he will prevail in his race against George Santos, a first-time candidate, once poll workers count tens of thousands of votes that were cast in his congressional district — more than half of which were from Democrats.

Santos had an edge of just over 4,000 votes, according to unofficial tallies of in-person votes.

In Northeast Queens' 26th Assembly District, which Braunstein has represented since 2011, nearly 16,000 absentee ballots have yet to be counted in his race for re-election against challenger John-Alexander Sakelos.

Almost 10,000 of those votes were cast by registered Democrats, according to the NYC Board of Elections.

“Once the thousands of Democrats have their votes counted and their voices heard, we are confident Edward Braunstein will be returning to the Assembly,” Braunstein’s campaign said in a statement.

The NYC Board of Elections is counting Queens absentee ballots at Citi Field.