Dems Move To Next Round In Hotly Contested Primary On Upper East Side

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — It was a tight race for Manhattan's City Council District 4 on Tuesday night in the Democratic Primary, and with no candidate earning more than 50 percent of the vote, the race will now head to another round of counting thanks to ranked choice voting.

Six Democratic candidates are vying for the open seat, left vacant by Councilmember Keith Powers, who is term-limited and ran for Manhattan borough president. Powers looks poised to lose to Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who secured 48 percent of the vote.

Virginia Maloney holds the lead in District 4, with 26.79 percent of the votes, or 7,270 total votes, as of Wednesday morning.

Vanessa Aronson is close behind, with 25.45 percent of votes, or 6,907 votes.

The two are in close competition after Aronson teamed up with another candidate, Ben Wetzler, to cross-endorse each other and raise alarms about outside corporate spending from DoorDash.

DoorDash spent $161,393.70 on Maloney's campaign on various mailers and ads, according to the New York City Campaign Finance Board.

"Like myself, Ben shares the belief that elections should be decided by voters and not be sold to the highest bidder," Aronson said at the time.

Maloney's spokesperson told Patch that though Maloney has support from a corporate PAC, her vision for the neighborhood is what makes her stand out.

"While other candidates quibble over cross-endorsements, she is focused on an agenda for our future — making the East Side more livable, affordable, and safer," Matthew Rey, Maloney's spokesperson, told Patch.

Here's how ranked choice voting works: Instead of just voting for one candidate per race, New Yorkers ranked their top five choices, in order.

If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, then they win the primary.

Aside from the top two contenders, Rachel Storch has around 23 percent of the votes, Wetzler has around 15 percent of the votes, Faith Bondy has around 8 percent of the votes, and Lukas Florczak has around 2 percent of the votes.

Since no candidate earned more than 50 percent of first-choice votes, counting votes will continue in rounds, beginning a week after the primary election, and the candidate with the fewest votes will be eliminated each round until there is just one candidate left.

This means the next results for the primary election in District 4 will be on July 1.

Then, whoever wins the Democratic nomination will face off against Republican candidate Alina Bonsell and Independent candidate Kyle Athayde in November.

For questions and tips, email Miranda.Levingston@Patch.com.