Williams & Diaz Win 1st & 3rd Districts
By Dan Murphy
Yonkers democrats went out to vote June 25 to cast important ballots in races for mayor, City Council and county legislator. About 8,000 Yonkers democrats voted Tuesday, which was the first time that a new primary date was held for Yonkers elections.
The big race was for Yonkers mayor, and incumbent Mike Spano cruised to a democratic primary victory, handily defeating his two opponents, Karen Beltran and Ivy Reeves. Spano got 75 percent of the vote, 5,951 ballots cast; with Beltran in second place with 17 percent, or 1,366 votes; and Reeves in third place with 8 percent, or 619 votes.
A happy Spano told his supporters at the Castle Royal on Tuesday night, “Yonkers is moving forward and democrats want that to continue.” He now goes on to face Republican Mario De Giorgio in November.
Incumbent City Councilman Shanae Williams in the First District won her democratic primary, against Terrence Miller, with 57 percent of the vote, or 1,077 ballots cast; compared to Miller’s 815 votes, or 43 percent. Williams won her victory without the endorsement of the Yonkers Democratic Party, which endorsed Miller. This is a big win for Councilwoman Williams, and a validation of her first two years in office.
The primary night shocker came in the third district, where community activist Tasha Diaz won the democratic primary with 51 percent of the vote, or 774 ballots cast, in a three-way contest. Former Councilman Dennis Robertson, who many believed was favored to win, came in a distant second with 31 percent, or 473 votes; and Olasubomi Macaulay came in third with 270 votes, or 18 percent.
Congratulations to Diaz, who worked hard, knocking on doors, meeting with voters and getting her message out. The results clearly show that she earned her primary victory, and the fact that she does not have republican opposition in November makes Diaz the apparent next councilmember for the third council district, replacing Councilman and Majority Leader Michael Sabatino.
“I want to thank all who volunteered, campaigned and voted for me to serve the 3rd District of Yonkers in the City Council. I could not have done it without all of you, I am both humbled and honored and look forward to serving my district,” said, Diaz.
In the democratic primary for county legislator in the 17th district of southwest Yonkers, Jose Alvarado won a three-way democratic primary Tuesday night. Alvarado received 44 percent of the vote, or 937 ballots cast; beating London Reyes who received 30 percent, or 634 votes; and Lucy Casanova with 26 percent, or 549 votes.
Alvarado’s victory in the overwhelmingly democratic district means he will return to the County Board, where he served until he was defeated by Virginia Perez in 2011. Now Alvarado will replace Perez, who did not run for re-election.
This year’s democratic primary in Yonkers featured a split between two factions of the party; those supporting Mayor Mike Spano, and a faction led by Deputy County Executive Ken Jenkins and County Legislator Chris Johnson.
The Spano faction won the democratic primary in the first district, with Councilwoman Williams, who was appointed by Spano two years ago, winning re-election over Miller, the Jenkins-Johnson candidate. In the third council district, Diaz had the support of Johnson, while Robertson had worked for Spano. And Alvarado was the chosen pick of Jenkins.
So it’s a split decision, but as one Yonkers democrat tells us, it’s more about the future of the Yonkers Democratic Party two years down the road. “The Spanos won this primary, but they won’t be around forever, and that’s what the groundwork is being laid for,” said a Yonkers Democrat. “What happens in two or four years and whoever controls the Yonkers Democratic Party controls Yonkers politics.”
There’s also a split decision about what influence, if any, the progressive-indivisible part of the Yonkers Democratic Party had on primary night. Spano won easily and did not face any large indivisible-progressive opposition. And Spano’s opponents, especially Karen Beltran, did not receive the support of the progressive-indivisible community that she needed to mount a serious challenge to Spano.
Diaz’s victory could be seen as a victory for progressives and indivisible voters in Yonkers.
The other opposition that never materialized against Spano was the supposed public outcry in the city against term limits. After the City Council voted to extend term limits to allow for a third term for Spano, the belief was that those voters opposed to any change in term limits would respond at the ballot box against Spano.
And while on my travels in Yonkers I do hear from the occasional voter who is still angry about changing term limits, I see many more voters and people supporting Spano. Instead of a referendum on term limits, the democratic primary for mayor in Yonkers was a referendum on the job performance of Spano, and he won that referendum with flying colors.
Some democrats were also surprised that support for Beltran from some unions currently fighting with Spano never happened. On a cold night last winter, hundreds of construction union workers and members of Teamsters Local 456 rallied outside Yonkers City Hall and entered the mayor’s conference room, opposed to the recent decision by Spano and the IDA, not to extend a project labor agreement for all development projects in the city that receive incentives.
The promise that night was to rally behind and support an opponent to Spano; Beltran was the obvious candidate to get behind. But no support, finances or volunteers were given to Beltran.
So to anyone who has “political sour grapes” in Yonkers and says the Spanos are fixing the elections, I ask: Where were you for the primary, and in the weeks and months before the primary? The Spano political machine was lined up and ready to work, perhaps for the last time. In the end, they were all told to stand down, there was no opposition. That is not the fault of the Spanos.
This week we run a letter we received last week, just after we went to print, that describes this primary race. Spano has a November Election Day opponent in Republican Mario De Giorgio. The other victorious democrats on primary night do not have a republican opponent and, in fact, won their election when they won the democratic primary.
