De Blasio and fam.
If you were following Daily Intel last night, then you know the deal: Joe Lhota beat John Catsimatidis as the Republican mayoral candidate despite Cats’s Tim & Eric-esque campaign; Lena Dunham’s favorite candidate, Scott Stringer, squeaked past Eliott Spitzer in the race for comptroller; Charles Hynes is out as Brooklyn DA, in part because of feelings that he was too soft on child sex abusers in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community; the public advocate race between Daniel Squadron and Letitia James is headed for a runoff. And, of course, Bill de Blasio, the clear favorite among voters we spoke to yesterday, emerged victorious over Bill Thompson (though there will be a recount to make sure a runoff isn’t necessary) and solidified his place as the hipster candidate du jour by celebrating at the Bell House with “a Smorgasbord-esque assortment of gourmet food trucks” and a playlist that included LCD Soundsystem. Chris Smith wrote about his “full-spectrum victory” and why it further cemented Brooklyn as “the city’s new center of gravity.”
In the City Council races, The Times reports that District 2 (including the East Village, Gramercy, and Lower East Side) went to incumbent Rosie Mendez, who trounced challenger Rick Del Rio with 81.3% of the vote. In Brooklyn’s District 33, which includes Greenpoint and Williamsburg, incumbent Stephen Levin had a similarly strong showing against Stephen Pierson, with 71% of the vote. And in perhaps the most closely watched council race (District 34: East Williamsburg and Bushwick), the relatively inexperienced Antonio Reynoso prevailed over the embattled Vito Lopez with 49.2% of the vote. Maritza Davila will replace Lopez in the State Assembly seat that he vacated due to sexual harassment charges.
The Times has a block-by-block breakdown of how people voted: the East Village went solidly to de Blasio, with just a handful of blocks voting Quinn. The Lower East Side also went to de Blasio, though the Chinatown area voted solidly for John Liu, with some precincts giving 80% of the vote to the comptroller. Williamsburg’s North Side and Greenpoint were almost solidly de Blasio, with a handful of blocks going to Quinn, but Williamsburg below Broadway went almost squarely to Thompson. There were a good amount of Thompson patches in Bushwick, too.