The race for City Comptroller was not decided on primary night, but the field has been whittled down from four to two candidates – Queens City Councilmember John Liu and Brooklyn Councilmember David Yassky.
The hotly-contested race will go into a runoff on September 29 since none of the four candidates received 40 percent of the vote, which is required in citywide elections.
In the four-way race, Liu received 38 percent of the vote, Yassky got 30 percent, Queens Councilmember Melinda Katz 21 percent and Councilmember David Weprin 11 percent.
“Admittedly we got a little hopeful because we got so close but it is what it is. We were prepared for this. With four people in the race, there’s always been a runoff,” said Liu, addressing supporters after the results came in on Tuesday night. “This race was about making New York history, but it was also about putting New York on the right track. … Come with me on this wild journey these next two weeks.”
During the weeks leading up to the primary, Liu, Katz and Yassky were in a virtual dead heat, according to a number of polls, with Liu surging ahead during the final week. However, the Yassky campaign was pleased with the results on Tuesday night.
“We expected a competitive race and that’s exactly what we got,” Yassky spokesperson Danny Kanner told The Courier shortly after the results were announced. “Over the next two weeks, we are going to be taking David’s vision of the Comptroller’s office that holds government accountable and gets the city’s economy back on track to every New Yorker in all five boroughs.”
With the difficult economic times the city and country has been going through, the Comptroller’s race this year has received increased attention. All four candidates talked about reducing spending while maintaining crucial city services, how they would manage the city’s pension fund and how they would create jobs for New Yorkers.
“We have seen some nonsense being revealed about how the pension funds have been invested, and there’s no place for that either, especially when workers are so jittery about their own futures,” Liu told The Courier during an interview last month.
