By Matthew Monks and Zach Patberg
Hevesi, 31, a Democrat who also ran on the Working Families Party line, defeated Republican challenger Anthony Como, a prosecutor for the Queens District Attorney's Office. Hevesi, who left his post as director of communications for Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum to focus on the two-month long race for the 28th District seat, received about 58 percent of the votes compared to Como's 42 percent, according to unofficial results from the city's Board of Elections.Given that voting numbers are commonly low in a special election, Hevesi said he was pleased with the turnout, which was about 6,500 votes in a district that covers Forest Hills, Rego Park, Glendale and Middle Village.”It is indicative of the very active and healthy community that we have,” he said after his win.Hevesi said his first task in office, which he was sworn into Wednesday, was to set up a “constituent services operation” in order to “begin to fill the very large shoes left by Michael Cohen.” It was the first run for political office for both candidates and each spent the weeks before the election rushing to shake hands with district residents.”We ran this campaign the old-fashioned way, meeting voters at train stops, going to community meetings, working the phones and knocking on doors,” Hevesi said. As an assemblyman, Hevesi said a chief project of his would be improving the safety of Queens Boulevard. The former chief of staff for state Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx) promised to continue Cohen's fight to put traffic cameras along the seven-mile “Boulevard of Death,” where 80 pedestrians have been killed since 1993. Both Hevesi and Como have deep ties to the district.Hevesi's father was the 28th District assemblyman for 22 years and his brother, Daniel Hevesi, represented the district as state senator until 2002. Como, who earned his law degree from Hofstra University, was raised in Ridgewood and worked for five years as the executive assistant to state Sen. Serphin Maltese (R-Glendale). He has also served as special counsel for the Juniper Park Civic Association in Middle Village.During his campaign, Como focused primarily on criminal matters, telling the Ridgewood Property Owners & Civic Association on May 5 that making graffiti a felony would be his first order of business up in Albany.Each candidate despite their differences thought highly of the other and refused to mud-sling during the race.
