In what was probably the most heated City Council race this election cycle, the battle between two-term incumbent Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley and Juniper Park Civic President Robert Holden has proven to be a nail-biter.
According to the New York City Board of Elections website, at 12:15 a.m. on Nov. 8, Holden had a slim 133 vote lead over Crowley for the 30th Council seat, with 98.97 percent of scanners reporting. Holden claimed victory late on Tuesday night, Nov. 7; Crowley has not conceded. The 30th District includes Ridgewood, Glendale, Maspeth, Middle Village, Woodhaven and Woodside.
This months-long battle between the heated rivals wasn’t settled Election Night and may not be for several days to come, as hundreds of absentee ballots still need to be counted.
As of the last tally, Holden had 10,211 votes, while Crowley got 10,088 total votes. It was a remarkable turnaround for Holden, who lost big to Crowley in the Democratic primary but continued on as a third-party candidate. Weeks later, he gained the Republican Party’s support after their nominee, Joseph Kasper, dropped out to pursue a judgeship.
Republicans in the district, as it turned out, strongly supported their new candidate on Election Day, as Holden got 8,457 votes on that line; he garnered thousands more votes on the Reform, Conservative and “Dump de Blasio” lines.
There were 32 write-in votes.
At his campaign party held at Connolly’s Corner in Maspeth, Holden claimed victory based on these numbers to cheers from his family, friends and supporters.
“We’re up 133 votes, it’s all in except the paper ballots,” Holden told his supporters. “We’re confident it will hold true and I think we won this race.”
In a statement released Wednesday morning, Crowley said she was “proud of my record and the campaign my team and I ran based on truth and hard work.”
“We have done tremendous work over the last nine years to make our communities a better place to live and raise a family, and I am confident once all of the numbers come in, we will have four more years to build on that success,” she said.
Republican Councilman Eric Ulrich, who won his re-election campaign Tuesday, came out to support Holden and congratulate him on a hard-fought campaign, and what looks like a victory.
“They say that the pride comes before the fall, and boy did she fall tonight,” Ulrich said of Crowley. “Bob Holden showed that you don’t take the low road to City Hall, that you can’t use lies and smear, and innuendos and vicious attacks and think you’re going to get away with it because the people of this community went to the poll in historic turnout and they swept her out of office.”
Ulrich believes that the numbers will hold up and that Holden will be “an outstanding member of the City Council.”
Check with QNS later today for further details about the contest.
