Meng ousts Young in primary

While three of the four Queens incumbents who faced primaries were victorious, Grace Meng handily defeated incumbent Democrat Assemblymember Ellen Young in the Democratic primary in the 22nd Assembly District in Flushing.
Meng received 2,733 votes in the September 9 primary accounting for nearly 59 percent of the vote, while Young received 1,916 or 41 percent of the vote.
“We celebrated last night, but we are looking forward because have a lot of work to do going forward in the community,” Meng said.
Meng, the daughter of former Flushing Assemblymember Jimmy Meng, would have faced Young in a primary in 2006, but Meng was not allowed on the ballot because of a residency issue. However, Meng did not dwell on the past and thanked Young for her service to the community, but she also said that now is the time to bring all of the different groups of people together in Flushing.
“Something that we really stressed during our campaign is that we want to try to work with all of the different groups in the community,” Meng said. “We really want to make Flushing a stronger and more unified place.”
Although Young had the backing of the Queens Democratic Organization as well as a number of borough elected officials, Meng has been a fixture in the community providing grassroots, local services to residents - an area she believes contributed to her decisive victory.
“My belief is that when anyone runs for office it should just be an extension of what they are already doing in the community,” Meng said. “By winning by that margin, it’s a confirmation by the voters of what we have been doing.”
In the other Queens primaries, Democratic incumbent State Senator Shirley Huntley held off a challenge from former City Councilmember Allan Jennings, defeating him by a 70 percent to 30 percent margin. Meanwhile Democratic State Senator Toby Stavisky handily defeated challenger Robert Schwartz, but Stavisky will likely face a greater challenge in November when she faces off against Republican Peter Koo.
In addition, City Councilmember Joseph Addabbo defeated Albert Baldeo, who last month pledged not to run and endorsed Addabbo, but because of the close proximity to the primary his name remained on the ballot. Addabbo will now take on Republican incumbent Serphin Maltese in the November 4 general election in a race that Democrats are targeting as a possible seat they can pick up in their quest to recapture the majority in the State Senate.