By Rich Bockmann
Following a lopsided election Tuesday, Borough President-elect Melinda Katz called her wide margin of victory a mandate, and Tony Arcabascio said he will never run for office in Queens as a Republican again.
With 80 percent of the borough’s vote in her corner, Katz handily coasted to victory over Arcabascio with 17 percent and Everly Brown with just under 3 percent, according to preliminary results from the Associated Press. A Democrat who lost in the primary, Brown ran on the Jobs & Education ticket.
“Tonight’s results show New Yorkers across this city share our vision, and know it’s time to end the tale of two cities in New York,” Katz said in a statement released after her victory. “I’m proud of the race we ran, grateful to all our volunteers and supporters, and look forward to working with Mayor-elect de Blasio from Borough Hall to take on the inequality crisis in our city.”
Arcabascio, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for state Senate last year, said he has had it with the borough’s GOP Party.
“I can absolutely tell you that I will never run for office in Queens as a Republican again. I would be better off forming the party of Tony,” he said, citing warring factions in the county GOP party. “There’s no benefit. They don’t do anything to help their candidates.”
Arcabascio, who describes himself as a moderate-to-left-leaning Republican, said he thought his proposals to expand urgent care medical centers and lure businesses to the borough with tax incentives would have resonated more with voters had he not been on the GOP line.
With polls predicting a decisive victory for de Blasio leading up to the election, the Democratic mayoral candidate called for voters to turn out in droves and send him to Gracie Mansion with a historic margin of victory that would serve as a mandate for his progressive agenda. They listened and gave him 73 percent of the vote.
Katz said she modeled her campaign to address working-class issues, such as affordable housing in Jackson Heights, responsible economic development in Flushing and resiliency in the Rockaways.
“We ran a campaign that I am extremely proud of,” she told supporters at the Queens Democratic Party headquarters in Forest Hills Tuesday evening. “We sent a message from the moment that I announced my candidacy that we are a borough of diversity and that is an asset — it is not a flaw — in the borough of Queens and the city of New York.”
Katz was endorsed early on in her campaign by the Rev. Floyd Flake in southeast Queens.
Katz emerged as the clear favorite to win the post after her victory in the Democratic primary, which became a two-way contest between her and Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Astoria) when Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans) dropped out and threw his support behind the former councilwoman.
Arcabascio, a director of IT construction projects for North Shore-LIJ Health Systems, faced an uphill battle and the two candidates often clashed on the campaign trail. The Republican accused the real-estate-industry-backed Katz of representing the 1 percent and the former councilwoman tried to align Arcabascio with congressional Republicans who shut down the federal government.
On Election Day, voters appeared to choose Katz due to her credentials and support from the Democratic establishment.
“I’m voting for Melinda, of course,” Ruth Shuler said after pulling the lever in St. Albans, not far from where Katz began her day greeting voters in Cambria Height. “The former borough president did a good job and she recommended her.”
At PS 85 in Astoria, Colin Pierce said he thought the candidates had run a tough contest.
“The BP race was surprisingly competitive,” he said. “It’s a largely symbolic position, but whichever borough has the stronger BP gets the most money. Look at what Brooklyn’s Marty Markowitz has done — who knows who the BP in the Bronx is?”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
