Queens Borough President Helen Marshall easily clinched her bid for re-election and will now begin her third term in the borough’s highest office.
“It’s great because I have a whole lot of ideas that I would like to do now and now I’ll be able to get a chance to do some of them,” Marshall said. “It’s like giving me another beginning.”
Marshall, a Democrat, was declared the winner early on as precincts began reporting the night of the general election, having received 76 percent of the vote with 81 percent of the precincts reporting. She came out ahead of Republican candidate Robert Hornak and Conservative candidate Robert Schwartz by a large percentage of the vote. The two opponents received 20 percent and 4 percent of the vote, respectively.
Marshall is very appreciative of the residents of Queens who have continued to support her. She said the thanks she receives mean a great deal to her and she finds much satisfaction in her work.
“I really appreciate their [the voters’] support and it certainly gives me a great deal of satisfaction that they’ve acknowledged what I’ve been doing,” she said. “I do this because I love people and I love this borough.”
There are several things Marshall is looking to accomplish during her third term. She wants to create intergenerational housing and wants to do a “wonderful thing” on the Flushing Bay waterfront, along with strengthening community groups. She also wants to do work to Borough Hall, including creating an atrium.
Overall, Marshall said she wants to do everything she can to make the borough an even better place than it already is, although she said she is “very proud” of where Queens is already.
Marshall was first elected borough president in 2001. Prior to that, she was a Councilmember in District 21 for 10 years and served as an Assemblymember for five terms. In addition, she was a member of Community Board 3 for 13 years.
Marshall is also a former early childhood teacher and was once the director of the Langston Hughes Library.
