Virginia Maloney Projected To Win Upper East Side Council Seat

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — Election results have been tallied, and Virginia Maloney, the Democratic nominee for City Council 4, is projected to win by a wide margin over her Republican challenger Debra Schwartzben and independent party challenger Kyle Athayde.

Early tallies showed high voter turnout across New York City. More than 1,748,698 New Yorkers had checked in to vote by 6 p.m. Tuesday, including mail-in ballots, according to New York City's Board of Elections.

With 95.15 percent of votes counted, Maloney was sweeping the field with 68.96 percent of the vote, or 40,014 votes, according to the city's Board of Elections unofficial vote totals.

Schwartzben was in second place, with 26.76 percent of the vote, or 15,526 votes. Though her name was on the ballot, she stopped campaigning a month before the election, according to Our Town NY.

Athayde came in distant third place, with 4.09 of the vote, or 2,374 votes.

Prior to running for office, Maloney, who is from the East Side, worked in the federal government modernizing the high-speed rail in the Northeast Corridor during the Obama Administration, and was a senior project manager at the NYC Economic Development Corporation under Mayor Bloomberg.

Public service is in her DNA — she is the daughter of former Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney and a Navy veteran.

"Public service is more than a family value to me. It’s a responsibility to the community that shaped me and a commitment I carry every day," she told Patch in October. "I am running for City Council to deliver a safer, more affordable New York."

Once the counting is finalized, the results of the race will be certified by the Board of Elections.

"Virginia is a strong leader with years of valuable experience that I know will help her deliver results for New Yorkers," Councilmember Julie Menin, who won her re-election race on the Upper East Side for City Council District 5, said on X (formerly Twitter).

District 4 includes NoMad, Times Square, Stuyvesant Town, Peter Cooper Village, Murray Hill, Kips Bay, Turtle Bay, United Nations, Upper East Side and Carnegie Hill.

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