Race To Rep NY-10: Goldman Declares Victory, Niou Says Not So Fast

WEST VILLAGE, NY — Dan Goldman declared victory shortly before 9:30 p.m. despite no official declaration on Tuesday night in the much discussed race for the vacant 10th Congressional District seat to represent Lower Manhattan and a chunk of Brooklyn. But current second place candidate Yuh-Line Niou has not conceded.

Goldman has held a narrow lead over Niou since the polls closed at 9 p.m.

Goldman declared victory in the primary, but acknowledged that NY1 and the Associated Press had yet to call the tight race.

"While we will appreciate and respect the democratic process and make sure that all the votes are counted, it is quite clear from the way that results have come in that we have won," he said to a room of supporters.

Here are the unofficial results as of 11:30 p.m., which is 98 percent of expected votes, according to the Board of Elections.

• Daniel Goldman: 25.7 percent
• Yuh-Line Niou: 23.7 percent
• Mondaire Jones: 18.16 percent
• Carlina Rivera: 16.9 percent
• Jo Anne Simon: 6.15 percent
• Elizabeth Holtzman: 4.3 percent
• Jimmy Li: 1.2 percent
• Yan Xiong: 1.1 percent
• Maud Maron: 0.9 percent
• Bill de Blasio: 0.7 percent
• Brian Robinson: 0.5 percent
• Peter Gleason: 0.2 percent
• Quanda Francis: 0.2 percent

As of 11:30 p.m., Goldman is leading Niou by roughly 1,300 votes, according to unofficial BOE numbers.

The NY1 election page has the same vote tallies for the race as of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, but also did not declare a winner.

Niou also spoke to a room full of her supporters Tuesday night, in which she made a point to say she wasn't conceding.

"I know that tonight's results aren't yet what we hope to hear, but we will not concede until we count every vote," she said.

NY1 is reporting that the race could go down to counting the absentee votes, which means a winner would not be declared for days.

Former candidate for governor Cynthia Nixon, who endorsed Niou, took to Twitter Tuesday to point out a headline from CNN's election coverage that left out Niou's name in favor of Jones, despite Niou's better numbers.

"Talk about erasure ⁦@CNNnewsroom— ⁦@yuhline⁩ and Dan Goldman are neck and neck too close to call in #Ny10 and the CNN headline is “Goldman Leads Mondaire Jones in 10th District”#WTF???," Nixon wrote.

The district includes all of downtown Manhattan below 14th Street and the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Red Hook, Sunset Park, Borough Park, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill and Park Slope.

Rep. Jerry Nadler, the longtime District 10 incumbent, vacated the seat after new legislative districts were drawn that moved his beloved home neighborhood of the Upper West Side into District 12. Nadler decided to run in the new District 12, pitting himself against longtime ally Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

With the seat now open, a laundry list of people announced their candidacies for the seat.

The final ballot looked like this:

• Mondaire Jones
• Quanda Francis
• Peter Gleason
• Daniel Goldman
• Elizabeth Holtzman
• Jimmy Jiang Li
• Maud Maron
• Yuh-Line Niou
• Carlina Rivera
• Brian Robinson
• Joe Anne Simon
• Yan Xiong

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio also threw his hat in the ring for the empty congressional seat, but chose to withdraw from the race halfway through July, saying that it was "time for me to leave electoral politics and focus on other ways to serve."

While there are more than 10 candidates to pick from, polls throughout the campaign process have consistently shown the three leading contenders to be former Assistant U.S. Attorney Dan Goldman, Assembly Member Yuh-Line Niou and Councilmember Carlina Rivera.

Goldman landed the all-powerful New York Times endorsement, but not without some backlash against the decision.

Former president Donald Trump also unexpectedly added his voice to the race by endorsing Goldman last week.

Goldman, a Democrat, quickly rejected the endorsement, saying that Trump was "trying to meddle in the election" and "pretending to endorse him."

Goldman was the Democrats' lead counsel during the first Trump impeachment trial.

The complicated redistricting that happened in New York pushed the primary date back for all local congressional races to Aug. 23.

Read More:

• Early Voting Begins In Lower Manhattan/BK Congressional District 10
• NY Times' Goldman Endorsement Baffles District 10 Voters
• Goldman Rejects Donald Trump's Unexpected Endorsement In D-10 Race