By Dan Murphy
If the results so far in the democratic primary in New York on June 23 hold up, Yonkers will have a new member of Congress who lives in the City. Jamaal Bowman is leading Eliot Engel by 20 points and on primary night, his lead became national news. Bowman has quickly become 2020’s version of AOC, Congresswoman Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, who shocked the country when she defeated Congressman Joe Crowley in 2018.
Bowman received the support and endorsement from AOC, and from Bernie Sanders, and other progressive, indivisible groups, who were organized and were seen handing out literature in Yonkers in the days before the primary. Bowman also appears to have survived an onslaught of negative advertisements against him by Engel and his supporters, all of which made no difference in the result so far, with Bowman leading Engel by 20 points.
“The thing I’m most grateful for about this campaign is all the people coming together across our beautiful differences, Imagine what America could become if we could come together and take on the people on top who want to divide us up,” tweeted Bowman, a 44-year old former NYC school principal who lives in Yonkers.
Engel, who has spent 32 years in Congress, did not concede, stating, “With so many absentee ballots outstanding and many still coming in, we know that the full results of the primary won’t be known for some time. Every voter deserves to have their voice heard in our electoral system, and every primary ballot must be counted to ensure that happens. That includes the absentee ballots that only reached voters in the last day – they must be counted in every race.”
This year, due to the Coronavirus, more than 1 million absentee ballots have been mailed out in NY State, and more than 100,000 in Westchester. How many of those ballots were mailed back and who did those democrats vote for is the question that will determine the outcome. And we won’t know until June 30 or later because that is when absentee ballots are due back to the Board of Elections and will begin to be counted.
Another big Westchester democratic primary has Mimi Rocah well ahead of Anthony Scarpino is the race for Westchester District Attorney. Rocah received 68% of the vote to Scarpino’s 32%, a more than 2 to 1 margin over a sitting, incumbent DA.
Rocah’s campaign had been extremely aggressive campaigning against Scarpino’s record, or lack of prosecution of some cases involving police corruption. The momentum in the DA’s race always seemed to be with Rocah, and the killing of George Floyd did not help Scarpino’s core issue for re-election, that he was the law and order candidate and former FBI agent.
Scarpino’s campaign did try to explain to democratic voters that he had checked all of the progressive boxes on the issues before his office, like not prosecuting small marijuana offenses and not asking for bail in many minor criminal cases before bail reform became state law. Scarpino did not concede stating, “There are still tens of thousands of absentees ballots outstanding and more coming in. That process needs to run its course. The results of this election are still pending, and we look forward to seeing all the votes counted.”
Rocah almost claimed victory on primary night, stating, “While tonight’s results are preliminary, and it is imperative that every vote is counted, our lead is extremely strong and the strength of our support so far makes it clear that we will win this primary. We look forward to focusing on and winning the election in November, and reforming criminal justice in our county”
Absentee votes will also determine the outcome of who democrats will select to be their nominees for Yonkers City Court. Five candidates are running for three seats, Tom Daly, Brendan McGrath, Verris Shako, Karen Best and Dan Romano. The race is too close to call and we will report back in July on who the three winners are.
Turnout was high in Yonkers, with many democrats still waiting on line after 10 pm to vote at one of eight polling places in the City. Other voters had troubles receiving their absentee ballots on time.
