By Anthony Giudice and Robert Pozarycki at QNS.com
The wildest City Council race in Queens is finally over.
Eight days after the election, Robert Holden clinched the 30th City Council District seat over two-term incumbent Elizabeth Crowley. His narrow Election Night victory was upheld after the Board of Elections counted all absentee and affidavit ballots on Nov. 15.
It was a stunning defeat for Crowley, the only incumbent Democratic City Council member to lose to a Republican candidate this election cycle. In a statement Thursday morning, Crowley said her nine years working in the City Council were “the most rewarding and fulfilling of my entire life.”
At the conclusion of Wednesday’s count, a source close to the situation reported, Holden had 137 more votes than Crowley. His margin of victory had actually grown by four; after polls were tabulated on Election Night, the Republican challenger had a 133-vote lead over his Democratic rival.
“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done, running for office, but it’s the most gratifying thing,” Holden said of his win in an interview with QNS on Nov. 16. “Right now, it’s the most satisfying thing other than maybe getting Elmhurst Park.”
Holden thanked his team of volunteers for the hard work they put in to help him get elected.
“My volunteers were great. They pushed me and supported me,” he said. “They’re responsible for this, not me. This was David and Goliath. A group of volunteers taking down a nine-year incumbent — this is tremendously satisfying, and I owe it all to my volunteers and my wife.”
Councilman Eric Ulrich defeated democrat opponent Mike Scala on election day, winning re-election.
By Gina Martinez
City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) has been re-elected to a third term with 66 percent of the 22, 577 votes cast, according to unofficial results from the WNYC website.
With 14,862 votes, the incumbent easily beat his Democratic opponent Michael Scala, who won 7,715 votes, or 34 percent, to represent District 32, which covers parts of Belle Harbor, Breezy Point, Broad Channel, Howard Beach, Lindenwood, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Rockaway Park, Roxbury, South Ozone Park, West Hamilton Beach and Woodhaven, after a contentious campaign.
On Tuesday morning, voter turnout at Howard Beach’s PS 146 was steady, according to poll workers.
One couple who cast their votes for Ulrich said they thought he had been approachable and helpful in his previous terms. Their main concern was crime in the neighborhood, which they believe has increased. They were confident the Republican candidate would have a second term.
In a victory statement Ulrich said he was deeply humbled by the Election Night results.
“I want to thank the voters for putting their trust and faith in me,” he said. “Representing my constituents at City Hall is one of the greatest honors of my life. Serving my community and protecting our quality of life will always be my top priority,”
Middle Village civic leader Robert Holden officially secured the Republican Party line on Wednesday in his bid to unseat incumbent Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley of the 30th District, who had defeated him in the Democratic primary.
The lifelong Democrat was officially given the Queens County GOP’s support as the party itself underwent a shakeup on Sept. 28. Former Congressman Robert Turner, who had led the party for four years, was voted out of his chairmanship post and replaced by JoAnn Ariola, a Howard Beach civic activist and Republican district leader in the 23rd Assembly District.
Despite a decisive loss to Crowley in the Sept. 12 primary, Holden had already intended to go on to the November general election on the Conservative, Reform and “Dump de Blasio” lines. Up until this week, the Republican candidate for the Council seat, attorney Joseph Kasper, had been virtually nonexistent on the campaign trail. He wasn’t listed in the Campaign Finance Bureau’s “Follow the Money” contribution database, had no campaign website and doesn’t even live with the 30th District’s confines, which include Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village and parts of Woodhaven and Woodside.
Joann Ariola, longtime civic president and borough GOP district leader, has been named chairwoman of the Queens County Republican Party.
Ariola on Wednesday evening upset incumbent Chairman Bob Turner, 3-1, during a QGOP reorganization meeting in Howard Beach. The stunning victory was bolstered by what Ariola characterized as an “overwhelming” show of support from Republican committee members and district leaders throughout the county.
“I first want to say that I appreciate how far Bob Turner has taken the party, and now it is my job to pick up where he leaves off and carry out the work that is so needed,” Ariola beamed in an exclusive chat with The Forum following the event at Russo’s on the Bay, which is just a stone’s throw from her Lindenwood home.
Former U.S. Rep. Turner was handed the reins of a dysfunctional QGOP in March 2015, inheriting a group in turmoil and disarray that for several years had been divided into two combative factions that hadn’t been able to see eye-to-eye on myriad issues, including leadership.
The vast majority of the membership saw the selection of Turner as a major milestone for the party in the borough.
“The war is over,” state GOP committeeman and district leader Bart Haggerty told The Forum at the time.
On Monday, many were excited about the prospects of an Ariola era.
After calling Turner “a true champion for the Republican Party,” and noting that the QGOP is “greatly appreciative for his service,” City Councilman Eric Ulrich (R-Ozone Park) said he was “happy” that his “good friend” Ariola, whose party roots date back some 25 years, had been elected the new county leader.
The newly-minted chairwoman later told The Forum that she was both “honored and humbled to have been given the support of people I have worked with and admired over the last two decades.”
GOP State Senate Candidate Mike Conigliaro spoke at the Maspeth Shelter Rally. As a lifelong Queens resident, as an elected official Mike will work day and night to diligently represent all of the people in the 15th district.
Assemblyman David Weprin (D-Fresh Meadows) and Assemblywoman Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) will face Republican challengers in this fall’s election.
Usman Ali will face Rozic and Ira Harris, a Queens Village resident and business owner, is challenging Weprin.
Each of the candidates is supported by the Queens County Republican Party, according to Bob Turner, its chairman. Neither Ali — who could not be reached for comment — nor Harris has ever run for public office before.
“[Ali] is a willing and able young man,” Turner told the Chronicle. “We have a good process for screening and selecting good candidates and we’re very proud that these people stepped up.”
Harris describes himself as a “citizen,” not a “career politician.”
“I want to listen to the people’s problems and be a candidate for the people, not a candidate for Albany,” said Harris, who supports term limits and says he would not be a member of the Assembly for a long time. “I’m going there for a short time to do my business and see what I can do for the community.”
For some New Yorkers, the mid-twenties are a time of exploration. They may use their undergraduate degrees to create entrepreneurship ventures, while others struggle to find their niche and teeter through the corporate world.
At the age of 26, Jarret Freeman is leveraging his career to become the youngest GOP candidate in New York’s history to run for the State Senate. In November, Freeman will challenge the incumbent, Sen. Leroy Comrie, for the 14th District seat in Queens that comprises all or parts of Cambria Heights, Hollis, Hollis Hills, Jamaica, St. Albans and Rosedale.
The Republican Party has nominated Donald Trump for president.
The Queens native has completed a remarkable rise from political outsider to major party nominee for the White House.
New York officially put Mr. Trump over the top in the delegate count Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention being held in Cleveland, Ohio.
The Republican Party has nominated Donald Trump for president.
The Queens native has completed a remarkable rise from political outsider to major party nominee for the White House.
New York officially put Mr. Trump over the top in the delegate count Tuesday night at the Republican National Convention being held in Cleveland, Ohio.
