Here's How Much Money Poured Into Bayside Elections

BAYSIDE, QUEENS — Candidates who appeared on the ballot in the Bayside area raised and spent plenty of dough in the weeks and months leading up to Election Day.

Using the latest publicly available data from the New York State Board of Elections and the Federal Election Commission, Patch compiled a list of how much money each candidate raised — and spent — leading up to the 2020 Election.

Totals are from 2019 and 2020 and have been rounded to the closest whole number.

3rd Congressional District

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi's campaign raised far more money than Republican challenger George A. Devolder-Santos in the race to represent the 3rd Congressional District, which includes Bayside and much of the North Shore of Long Island.

Nonetheless, Suozzi trailed Santos by a razor-thin margin of 4,000 votes Friday, according to preliminary results from the New York State Board of Elections.

Suozzi's team expressed confidence that he would pull ahead after officials count the estimated 90,000 absentee ballots cast in the district, about half of which were cast by registered Democrats.

Tom Suozzi

• Total contributions: $2.7 million
• Total expenditures: $1.9 million

George A. Devolder-Santos

• Total contributions: $289,000
• Total expenditures: $217,000

6th Congressional District

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Grace Meng raised nearly 10 times more than her Republican challenger, Thomas Zmich, in her re-election bid to continue representing the 6th Congressional District, which includes parts of Auburndale, Bayside, Elmhurst, Flushing, Forest Hills, Glendale, Kew Gardens, Maspeth, Middle Village, Murray Hill and Rego Park.

The Associated Press called the race for Meng late Tuesday night, though the results do not yet include at least 59,000 absentee ballots cast in the district.

Grace Meng

• Total raised: $1.2 million
• Total expenditures: $1.6 million

Thomas Zmich

• Total raised: $130,000
• Total expenditures: $112,000

26th Assembly District

Incumbent Assembly Member Edward Braunstein spent quadruple what his Republican rival, John-Alexander Sakelos, poured into the race for the 26th Assembly District and raised more than triple the funds, according to filings with the New York State Board of Elections.

Sakelos led him by just over 2,000 votes as of Friday, but at least 14,500 absentee ballots have yet to be counted in the race.

Edward Braunstein

• Total contributions: $83,000
• Total expenses: $61,000

John-Alexander Sakelos

• Total contributions: $25,000
• Total expenses: $15,000

11th Senate District

Incumbent state Sen. John C. Liu had more than 16 times the funds as his Republican challenger, Elisa Nahoum, and spent almost 10 times more than she did, according to filings with the New York State Board of Elections.

Liu declared victory with more than half of the vote, though at least 32,000 absentee ballots have yet to be counted.

John C. Liu

• Total contributions: $386,000
• Total expenses: $162,000

Elisa Nahoum

• Total contributions: $23,000
• Total expenses: $17,000