By Rich Bockmann
Southeast Queens’ three Democratic City Council candidates coasted to victory Tuesday with decisive margins of victory and some of the largest raw-vote counts in the borough.
Councilmen-elect I. Daneek Miller, Donovan Richards and Ruben Wills each won their overwhelmingly Democratic districts with margins of victory greater than 87 percent, according to preliminary figures from the city Board of Elections.
Miller, a transit union leader who was handpicked by outgoing Councilman Leroy Comrie (D-St. Albans), was elected to his first term at City Hall with 20,333 votes, the most in the borough.
“Thank you Southeast Queens for your strong vote of confidence and decisive mandate for progressive values and the needs of working families,” he tweeted Wednesday morning.
Politico and management consultant Sondra Peeden, who ran against Miller in the Democratic primary, came in with about 3 percent of Tuesday’s vote.
Miller has pledged to bring participatory budgeting to the district — which covers Hollis, St. Albans, Cambria Heights and most of downtown Jamaica — and is at work getting a jump-start before he is sworn in in January.
Incumbent Councilman Donovan Richards (D-Laurelton) — who won a special election in February for the southeast Queens seat vacated by his mentor, state Sen. James Sanders (D-Jamaica) — won his first term in City Hall with 92 percent of Tuesday’s vote. Richards had the second-largest number of votes among the bourough’s council races with 17,226.
Republican Scherie Murray earned 5 percent and Ricardo Brown, a Democrat who ran on the Jobs & Education line, pulled in less than 3 percent.
The district covers Laurelton, Rosedale, Springfield Gardens and Far Rockaway, where Richards is already working with constituents on participatory budgeting.
Another southeast Queens incumbent, Councilman Ruben Wills (D-Jamaica), handily won re-election. Wills captured 95 percent of the vote compared to the 5 percent earned by Unity Party candidate Mireille Leroy.
Wills was first elected to the seat covering South Jamaica and parts of Jamaica, South Ozone Park and Richmond Hill in 2010 after the death of Councilman Thomas White Jr. He was elected again the following year to serve the remainder of White’s term.
Wills had the fifth-largest number of votes with 14,594 behind council members Mark Weprin (D-Oakland Gardens) and Karen Koslowitz (D-Forest Hills).
The councilman has said some of his major initiatives in the new term include revitalizing dormant civic groups and promoting the creation of business improvement districts along vital corridors.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
