Williams, County Clerks Race too Close to Call
By Dan Murphy
First time political candidate Lakisha Collins-Bellamy shook up Yonkers politics after she soundly defeated incumbent Council President Mike Khader. Unofficial results from the Board of Elections show Collins with 57% of the vote, to 29% for Khader and an impressive 14% for Peter Spano.
Turnout was very low, with only 7,246 Yonkers democrats casting ballots, with more than a thousand mail in ballots yet to be counted. Collins-Bellamy’s lead over Khader is so great that Collins-Bellamy will now move on to face republican Ron Matten in November.
Council President Khader will not be on the ballot in November. His political fall has been historic. Only a few months ago, Khader won the Yonkers Democratic convention with 86% of the vote. He will now serve out the remainder of his term this year.
The political dynamics of Khader’s loss will be discussed in more detail over the next few weeks in both Yonkers Rising and YonkersTimes.com
The other major takeaway from Primary night June 22 was the outstanding performance from Yonkers City Councilmember Shanae Williams in her race for Westchester County Clerk.
Unofficial results have Williams with 49% of the vote, and incumbent County Clerk Tim Idoni at 51%. This narrow, 2% margin, puts the race too close to call until mail in ballots are counted.
Most Westchester democrats had Idoni easily winning re-election, but the margin between the two is now less than 325 votes, out of less than 30,000 Westchester Democrats casting ballots.
Regardless of whether Idoni holds on for a narrow victory, Williams performance makes her political future bright.
In the three races for Yonkers City Council, Majority Leader Corazon Pineda-Isaac defeated her three opponents with 68% of the vote, in the 2nd council district.With her resounding victory, Pineda-Isaac becomes a possible candidate for Citywide office.
In the 4th council district, Councilman John Rubbo defeated Carlos Burgos by a 55%-45%. Rubbo is currently leading by 90 votes. This race was a bit closer than some had expected, with Burgos able to mount an active campaign that included a mailer linking Rubbo to former President Trump.
primary after she decided to split with the Peekskill Democratic Party and run with a separate slate of candidates, all of who lost. Agudelo remains one of the most well known progressive office holders in Westchester.
In Yonkers, incumbent City Council President Mike Khader was defeated in his bid for re-election after he lost the democratic primary to Lakisha Collins-Bellamny decisively by a 57%-49% margin. This primary was one of the most bitterly fought Yonkers elections in 20 years.
