Harlem Election Results: Dickens, Gibbs Lead Challengers

HARLEM — Harlem's incumbent lawmakers all appeared set to cruise to re-election victories, according to preliminary results from Tuesday's general election.

Besides big statewide races like governor, attorney general and U.S. Senate (find those results here), races on the general election ballot in Harlem included re-election bids by two incumbent State Assembly members. Several neighborhood incumbents also ran unopposed.

While neither of Harlem's two contested races had been called by 11 p.m., preliminary Board of Elections results showed wide leads for incumbents Inez Dickens and Eddie Gibbs:

State Assembly District 70 results

• Inez Dickens (D): 92.34% (26,146 votes)
• Cynthia Nelson-Acevedo (R): 7.18% (2,034 votes)

(98% of scanners reporting, as of 10:45 p.m.)

State Assembly District 68 results

• Edward Gibbs (D): 86.77% (16,385 votes)
• Daby Benjamine Carreras (R): 12.96% (2,447 votes)

(85% of scanners reported, as of 10:46 p.m.)

Uncontested races

Adriano Espaillat, Harlem's sole representative in Congress, was guaranteed re-election. The Democrat faced no opponents as he sought a fourth term in the 13th Congressional District.

Likewise, in the State Senate, incumbents Cordell Cleare and Jose M. Serrano ran unopposed in their districts based in Central and East Harlem, respectively.

In the State Assembly, Al Taylor had no challengers in his re-election bid in the 71st District, covering Hamilton Heights, Sugar Hill, and parts of Washington Heights. (Taylor already has his eye on another seat, however, filing last week to run for City Council in 2023 against incumbent Kristin Richardson Jordan.)

Despite surprisingly competitive races at the statewide level, Democratic candidates have been heavily favored for all the elections in Harlem, given the neighborhood's liberal leanings.

That included Gibbs, an East Harlem Democrat who was seeking his first full term in the State Assembly after winning a special election last year to succeed Robert Rodriguez in District 68.

Gibbs said his top priorities include reducing gun violence, expanding social services and increasing affordable housing options.

Carreras, his Republican challenger, is an investment banker. Carreras was previously the Republican nominee for city comptroller in 2021, and challenged Rodriguez for the same Assembly seat in 2018 and 2020.

Dickens, whose 70th District covers Central Harlem, was seeking a fourth term in the State Assembly. The 73-year-old Democrat fended off a challenge from housing advocate Delsenia Glover in the June primary election, and recently said she was considering challenging City Council Member Kristin Richardson Jordan in next year's city elections.

Little information was publicly available about Dickens's Republican challenger, Cynthia Nelson-Acevedo.