Hochul Did Worse On UES En Route To Victory: Block-Level Breakdown

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Gov. Kathy Hochul swept the Upper East Side as the Democrat defeated Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin in Tuesday's governor's race — but her margin in the neighborhood was notably narrower than in other parts of Manhattan, results show.

Hochul won about 75 percent of votes on the Upper East Side to Zeldin's 25 percent, according to a Patch analysis of preliminary vote tallies.

That wide gap was still smaller than the rest of Manhattan, which Hochul won overall with 82 percent of the vote to Zeldin's 18 percent. It's also a narrower margin than in other nearby neighborhoods — in the Upper West Side's two Assembly districts, for example, Hochul won about 86 percent of votes.

Here are some other takeaways.

Zeldin's best blocks

While conservative Zeldin did not win any election districts on the Upper East Side, he performed strongly in a few — especially in the upscale blocks between Fifth and Park avenues.

Zeldin's best result was in a precinct that runs from East 53rd to 62nd streets, between Fifth and Madison, where he won 47 percent of votes to Hochul's 53, trailing the governor by only 23 votes out of 365.

Zeldin's second-best result can be found in another district immediately to the north, covering 10 blocks from East 63rd to 65th streets between Fifth and Lexington avenues, where he won 39 percent.

Over in Yorkville, Zeldin did noticeably worse. His best result there came in the election district that runs from East 72nd to 76th streets, east of York Avenue: encompassing high-rise waterfront towers like One East River Place and The Promenade.

Hochul's best blocks

Hochul, meanwhile, had many of her best results in Yorkville. Her best two blocks run from East 94th to 96th streets, east of Second Avenue, where she won 88 percent of votes.

On the opposite end of the neighborhood, Hochul also did well in the four blocks between East 61st and 63rd streets, from First Avenue to the FDR Drive. She won 84 percent of votes in that district, which includes the Sutton Terrace apartment complex and Rockefeller University's Scholars Residence.

A crucial margin

It's nothing new for the Upper East Side to show some conservative leanings — in 2020, for example, Donald Trump did visibly better here than in most other parts of Manhattan.

On the whole, the neighborhood turned out strongly to vote this year: an analysis by the CITY showed several Upper East Side election districts topping 60 percent of registered voters. Neighboring East Harlem, by comparison, saw turnout as low as 10 percent in some precincts.

Well aware of the vote-rich territory, Hochul made the Upper East Side her first stop on Election Day, spending Tuesday morning campaigning on East 86th Street.

Indeed, Hochul's margin over Zeldin on the Upper East Side alone made up a sizeable fraction of her statewide victory. Her edge on the Upper East Side amounted to 37,000 votes — roughly 13 percent of her statewide margin of victory over Zeldin.

The results reported so far remain unofficial, not including some mail-in and affidavit ballots.

Voting data is via the New York City Board of Elections, compiled by the Center for Urban Research at the CUNY Graduate Center.