NYC Special Election Results: Democrats Win All 4 NYC Seats

NEW YORK, NY — New Yorkers elected four Democrats to replace four Democrats in the state Legislature in Tuesday's uneventful special elections.

Residents of Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx chose three new Assembly members and one new state Senator to fill seats that have been vacant since their predecessors took other offices in January.

The new representatives of the overwhelmingly Democratic districts — Harvey Epstein, Ari Espinal, Nathalia Fernandez and Luis Sepúlveda — will serve the rest of the previous officials' two-year terms. That means they'll face possible primaries in September and the general election in November.

The city's races were among 11 decided around the state on Tuesday. But the results won't change the balance of power in Albany.

Democrats kept their strong hold on the Assembly and held both Senate seats up for grabs. The victories of Sepúlveda and Shelley Mayer, an assemblywoman who will succeed former Sen. George Latimer, give the party 31 Senate votes after this month's dissolution of the Independent Democratic Conference.

But Republicans still narrowly control the upper chamber because nominally Democratic Sen. Simcha Felder will reportedly continue to caucus with the GOP, giving that party 32 votes.

Here's a rundown of the results for each race with about 97 percent of election districts reporting.

74th Assembly District, Manhattan

East Village, Alphabet City, Gramercy Park, Murray Hill

Epstein won 3,900 votes, or 90.3 percent, to defeat his three opponents and replace former Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh, who was elected to the state Senate last year.

Epstein, whom Kavanagh supported, is a lawyer who works as the associate director of the Urban Justice Center. He also sat on Manhattan Community Board 3 for 14 years and previously served on the city's Rent Guidelines Board.

Republican candidate Bryan Cooper, a community activist, won just 202 votes, or about 4.7 percent. This marks his third unsuccessful bid for the 74th Assembly District — he also ran in 2008 and 2014.

Reform Party candidate Juan Pagán, a community activist and former state corrections officer, came in third place with 97 votes. Green Party candidate Adrienne Craig-Williams, an elementary school teacher and activist, followed with 93 votes.

39th Assembly District, Queens

Corona, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst

Espinal was the only candidate on the ballot to replace former Assemblyman Francisco Moya, who was elected to the City Council in November.

Espinal is a Democratic district leader in Queens who previously worked as an aide to Moya. She's already facing a primary challenge from Catalina Cruz, the onetime chief of staff to former City Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras-Copeland, whom Moya replaced.

Assembly District 80, the Bronx

Allerton, Pelham Gardens, Norwood, Morris Park

Fernandez won 1,622 votes, or about 81, sailing into the Assembly seat vacated by Mark Gjonaj, who was elected to the City Council in November.

Fernandez, a former Bronx representative for Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the former chief of staff in Gjonaj's Assembly office, defeated Republican Gene De Francis.

DeFrancis, an Allerton native and founder of the Allerton International Merchants Association, won just 363 votes, or 18.1 percent.

Senate District 32, the Bronx

Morrisania, West Farms, Soundview, Melrose, Woodstock, Hunts Point

Sepúlveda won 2,613 votes, or 88.7 percent, to easily defeat two challengers and replace former state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr., who was also elected to the City Council last year.

Sepúlveda has represented the Bronx in the Assembly since 2013. He chairs the Subcommittee on Transitional Services and sits on the Mental Health, Aging, Agriculture, Banks, Correction and Housing committees.

Pamela Stewart-Martinez, the Reform Party candidate, came in second place with 210 votes, or about 7.1 percent. She's the president of the Bronx High School Federation and has served as co-president of the Citywide Council on Special Education.

Republican Patrick Delices, came in third with just 60 votes, or about 2 percent. This marks Delices' second failed campaign in as many years — he also ran unsuccessfully against Democratic City Councilman Rafael Salamanca in 2017.

(Lead image: Photo by Derek Hatfield/Shutterstock.com)