By Dan Murphy
With very few Westchester Democrats coming out to vote in their party’s primary June 22 and before in early voting, unofficial results show the following:
County Clerk: Incumbent County Clerk Tim Idoni is narrowly holding onto a lead over Yonkers City Councilmember Shanae Williams by a 51%-49% margin, with mail in ballots and absentee ballots still to be counted. While it appears that Idoni will hold on and serve a fourth term, Williams can also call this a victory for her campaign, because nobody thought she would come this close to beating a well known and respected Westchester Democrat. Less than 325 votes separate the two with mail in ballots to be counted. Early on Primary Day June 22, the Idoni campaign sent out an email to supporters explaning the voter turnout is very low and we need you to come out and vote.
One reason for Williams’ almost getting 50% of the vote is that her home City of Yonkers had several contested primaries and that a large share of the vote in the primary countywide came from Westchester’s largest city. Regardless of the final outcome, Williams political future remains bright.
In Greenburgh, unofficial results have incumbent Supervisor Paul Feiner with 60% and his opponent Tasha Young with 40%. Many believe that Young’s impressive campaign means that we will see in her in another political office soon.
In the three democratic primaries for County Legislator, incumbents Christopher Johnson, 62%, Jose Alvarado, 48%, and T Woodson Samuels, 57% all won their primaries challenges.
In Mt. Vernon, Darren Morton won the primary for Comptroller with 62% of the vote, and the race for three seats on the City Council has the three candidates who ran as a Mt. Vernon Forward Team, Danielle Browne, Ed Poteat and Cathlin Gleason are narrowly ahead of four other council candidates.
`In Peekskill, Councilmember Vanessa Agudelo lost her democratic 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 negative Yonkers elections in 20 years in Yonkers.
