By Michelle Han and Peter Sorkin
Weiner captured about 68 percent of the vote, based on unofficial returns.
All the other Queens incumbents seeking re-election to the House of Representatives were returned to office, including Gary Ackerman (D-Bayside), Joseph Crowley (D-Jackson Heights), Gregory Meeks (D-St. Albans), Nita Lowey (D-Rego Park) and Carolyn Maloney (D-Astoria).
In the only serious contest for Congress from Queens, Weiner trounced Dear in the Democratic primary in October, when he won by a nearly 3-to-1 margin. But Dear, a conservative Democrat, had the backing of the Republican Party in Queens and Brooklyn and ran again in the general election on the GOP line.
Weiner won Tuesday's election with 68 percent of the vote in the district that includes Forest Hills, Rego Park, Middle Village, Howard Beach, the Rockaways and parts of Brooklyn. Dear garnered 32 percent of the vote.
Dear was endorsed by Republican Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who made appearances in Howard Beach and in Brooklyn to express his support for the councilman, who is chairman of the City Council Transportation Committee.
But the 9th Congressional District has typically been a Democratic stronghold, where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a margin of more than 3-to-1.
The other congressional races, Democrat incumbent Ackerman easily defeated Republican candidate Edward Elkowitz and Right-to-Life candidate Anne T. Robinson by drawing about 68 percent of the vote. Ackerman, who has served in the House since 1983, will continue to represent the 5th Congressional District that covers northeast Queens as well as parts of Nassau and Suffolk.
Crowley, who ran unopposed in the primary after City Councilman Walter McCaffrey (D-Woodside) dropped out, easily defeated his four challengers in the general election by a margin of about 71 percent for his second term representative from northern Queens. He faced Republican Party candidate Rose Robles Birtley, Right-to-Life candidate Christea Garafalia, Conservative Party candidate Robert Hurley and Green Party candidate Paul Gillman.
Maloney whose district covers part of western Queens and the East Side of Manhattan, was also victorious in her race for the House of Representatives, with some 73 percent of the vote, defeating Republican candidate Carla Adrienne Rhodes, Independent Party candidate Frederick Newman, and Green Party candidate Sandra Stevens.
Lowey, whose district encompasses Rego Park, Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Briarwood, and Fresh Meadows, Westchester and part of the Bronx, defeated Republican candidate John Vonglis and Right to Life candidate Florence O'Grady by piling up about 67 percent the vote.
Meeks, who serves southeast Queens, ran unopposed and returns to Congress for his second term following a special election in February 1998 when he filled the seat vacated by the Rev. Floyd Flake.
