Ten-term Congressmember Nydia Velazquez will have another run this November, after winning the Democrat primary for District 7, which spans from Lower Manhattan, through parts of Brooklyn and reaches into Woodhaven, where residents had expressed some concern that their district was now a part of neighborhoods with differing needs.
In her victory, Velazquez, who had received an endorsement from Governor Andrew Cuomo, received a little more than 16,000 votes, beating Councilmember Erik Dilan, Dan O’Connor and George Martinez. No Republican candidate is currently listed as running in the district.
Velazquez has served in Congress for nearly 20 years and will run for her 11th term in the November 6 general election.
According to the New York Times, Dilan received about 8,500 votes; O’Connor came in in third with more than 2,200 votes; and Martinez came in last with around 700 votes.
Despite Velazquez’s tenure on Capitol Hill, she had not received much backing from Brooklyn Democrats. Rather, Dilan had received the backing of Vito J. Lopez, chair of the Brooklyn Democrats.
The victory comes after a ballot flub that saw Velazquez’s name incorrectly translated in Chinese on some of the ballots. DNAinfo.com reported the error and that four extra characters made a pronunciation unlike Velazquez’s name. As a result, the news service reported, Velazquez and campaigners tried to notify voters at polling stations.
