Upper East Side Election Results: Bores Leads Tight Assembly Race

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — With the vast majority of votes counted in the Upper East Side's Democratic primary elections, a picture is emerging of the likely winners in the neighborhood's hard-fought races for State Assembly, state committee and more.

In the Upper East Side's marquee race, the open seat for Assembly District 73, Alex Bores jumped out to an early lead shortly after polls closed at 9 p.m. and was holding on hours later, with about 29 percent of the vote in a four-way contest.

In Yorkville's 76th Assembly District, Rebecca Seawright officially defeated primary challenger by Patrick Bobilin, with NY1 calling her victory late Tuesday as she held about 85 percent of the vote to Bobilin's 15 percent.

A few blocks north, in the 68th District that verges into East Harlem, six-month incumbent Eddie Gibbs appeared set to win a full term, leading his closest rival by 11 percentage points in a competitive four-way race.

And in the unusually-fraught state committee race in the same district, Jeremy Berman and Erica Vladimer were holding off last-minute entrants Joyce Short and Marc Jonas Block.

Below, find the preliminary vote totals for each major Upper East Side race as of Tuesday night. (Totals are based on preliminary Board of Elections data.)

73rd Assembly District

Results as of 11:55 p.m. (99% of scanners reporting):

• May Malik: 6.35% (666 votes)
• Kellie Leeson: 20.02% (2,099 votes)
• Adam E. Roberts: 24.54% (2,573 votes)
• Russell M. Squire: 20.05% (2,102 votes)
• Alex Bores: 28.81% (3,020 votes)

76th Assembly District

Results as of 11:55 p.m. (92.86% of scanners reporting):

• Patrick A. Bobilin: 14.87% (1,671 votes)
• Rebecca A. Seawright: 84.69% (9,520 votes)

68th Assembly District

Results as of 11:55 p.m. (96.81% of scanners reporting):

• John Ruiz Miranda: 25.25% (1,913 votes)
• Edward Gibbs: 36.90% (2,795 votes)
• Wilfredo Lopez: 18.26% (1,383 votes)
• Tamika Mapp: 19.25% (1,458 votes)

Female State Committee, 76th Assembly District

Results as of 11:55 p.m. (92.86% of scanners reporting):

• Erica A. Vladimer: 55.65% (5,224 votes)
• Joyce Short: 43.82% (4,114 votes)

Male State Committee, 76th Assembly District

Results as of 11:55 p.m. (92.86% of scanners reporting):

• Marc Jonas Block: 28.99% (2,730 votes)
• Jeremy Berman: 70.35% (6,624 votes)

Here's some background on each race.

UES Assembly races

In the 68th Assembly District, which centers on East Harlem but includes a slice of the northern part of the Upper East Side, incumbent Edward Gibbs is being challenged by three fellow Democrats: Wilfredo Lopez, Tamika Mapp and John Ruiz Miranda.

Gibbs, a longtime political operative, took office in January after winning a special election to succeed Robert Rodriguez — making history as the first state lawmaker to have previously served prison time.

See here for statewide results from the governor and lieutenant governor's races.

Mapp, Gibbs and Lopez all told Patch that their top issues included housing affordability and public safety (Ruiz Miranda could not be reached for comment). Mapp, a businesswoman and state committee member, and Lopez, an attorney and former City Council staffer, both criticized Gibbs for his initial co-sponsorship of the NYCHA rescue trust — a recently-passed law that supporters say will unlock millions in repairs, but critics suggested did not give tenants enough say in the future of their buildings. (Gibbs eventually voted against the bill.)

In the 73rd Assembly District, a bitterly-fought primary has seen four Democrats duke it out in an effort to succeed retiring incumbent Dan Quart.

Candidates included Kellie Leeson, a humanitarian advocate; Alex Bores, a data engineer; Russell Squire, an attorney and chair of Community Board 8; and Adam Roberts, a former aide to Councilmember Ben Kallos and current policy director at the American Institute of Architects.

The highly competitive race was marked by heavy fundraising, vitriolic mailers, and a dispute over elevator accessibility.

The district, whose bounds shifted slightly in the latest redistricting process, mostly runs west of Third Avenue below East 94th Street, also including a chunk of Midtown East.

Finally, in the 76th Assembly District, covering Yorkville, Lenox Hill and Roosevelt Island, incumbent Rebecca Seawright is facing off against activist Patrick Bobilin.

It's a pseudo-rematch for the two: Bobilin previously challenged Seawright in 2020, though he was ultimately booted off the ballot for residency issues after a legal challenge by allies of Seawright.

In this campaign, the progressive Bobilin accused Seawright of being a "passive ally" who has not taken enough action on affordable housing, healthcare, climate change, and other issues. Seawright strongly defended her record, touting her advocacy for public schools, parks and infrastructure, as well as constituent services.

State committee

Meanwhile, a normally-sleepy race for state committee was jolted this spring by an influx of money flowing to a pair of candidates who joined the primary at the last minute.

The 76th District race pits Erica Vladimer and Jeremy Berman against Joyce Short and Marc Jonas Block. (State committee is an internal party position that nominates candidates for office, among other party matters.)

Short and Block, both Roosevelt Island residents, benefitted from tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from the chair of the state Democratic Party, as well as two prominent real estate magnates and their wives, as Patch reported last week.

Allies of Berman and Vladimer decried the spending and accused Block and Short of being "astroturf candidates." Block and Short strongly refuted that notion, saying they had widespread support in the community.

The neighboring 73rd District had no primary on the ballot, with state committee candidates running unopposed.