State Senator Shirley Huntley solidified her place in southeast Queens with a resounding primary day victory over challenger Lynn Nunes in the race for the State Senate in district 10.
The senator’s spokesperson, Lisa King, said that the celebration officially began at 11 p.m., but it had really been ongoing since volunteers started coming back to headquarters almost two hours earlier.
“They were really feeling good about what they were seeing and hearing,” said King. “There was a lot of effort put into this race.”
While her volunteers put in a lot of effort, Huntley, who defeated Nunes by capturing more than 70 percent of the vote, said that she wasn’t a hard sell to the people of the community who know her policies and track record.
“People in south Queens know that I’m going to deliver for them every time,” said Huntley. “They know I’m concerned for them and the issues that are important to them.”
Huntley said that the only downside to primary day is the long hours that she had to put in from sunup to sundown. She looked forward to heading home and enjoying a couple of hours of down time before getting back to work in the morning.
“It was a long campaign, but now there are pressing issues to clean up,” she said. “A lot went neglected that now needs to be fixed.”
For Huntley, and her challenger Nunes, the key issues facing the community were always healthcare access and jobs. Both candidates put their support behind the recently approved Aqueduct Racino project, with Huntley calling the project a “job creator” with the ability to “heal a community.”
Though that project is approved, Huntley said that many other issues, like healthcare access, still must be remedied.
She teased, but would not divulge, new legislation that she is eyeing in her next term and promised that the grassroots aspect of her campaign would cross over into her next term.
“I’m a grassroots kind of person and that will not change,” she said. “I will continue to go to work everyday for the people.”
