By Ivan Pereira
With City Councilman Thomas White (D-South Ozone Park) holding a razor thin lead of only six votes in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, his main challenger said he will continue to fight for a chance to be the leader of the 28th Council district.
The incumbent, who was running for his second term, beat out second place candidate, Lynn Nunes, with a total of 1,849 votes, or 31.85 percent, according to preliminary results from the city Board of Elections. Nunes, a small business owner from Richmond hill, received 1,843 votes, or 31.75 percent, the Board said.
Nunes said he would wait until all votes were counted and would not concede.
“We’re still have to go to the absentee. It’s six votes. We’re going to see what happens once we count the absentee,” Nunes said following the results Tuesday night.
White could not be reached for comment by press time late Tuesday night. The one-term councilman served as the councilman for the district from 1994-2002 and was term limited out but retook the seat from his successor, Allen Jennings, during the 2005 Democratic primary.
Other challengers who vied for White’s seat included community activist Stephen Jones, Ruben Wills, a former chief of staff for state Sen. Shirley Huntley (D-Jamaica), and Jennings.
Jennings received 16.22 percent of the vote, with 942 people voting for him, followed by Wills who had 9.08 percent of the vote with 527 votes, Hogan received 379 votes, which was 6.53 percent of the total, followed by Jones. who received 4.57 percent of the vote, with 265 people voting for him.
None of the other candidates could be reached for comment as of Tuesday night.
The primary did not bring out a large number of southeast Queens voters, but those who turned out said they wanted to have their voice heard in the Council, mayoral, public advocate and comptroller races.
Although White may have won the election for a second term, several voters said they chose his opponents because the incumbent haddone little for the community during the last four years.
“Every once in a while, you need a change in blood,” said Henry Lyons, who said he did not vote for White.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
