‘The West Side is in My Bones’

Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer looks to be returning to her former seat on the City Council after declaring victory in the District 6 Democratic primary election Wednesday morning.

Brewer, who has long been seen as the clear favorite to replace term-limited Council Member Helen Rosenthal on the Upper West Side, received 53.8 percent of the first-choice votes, therefore meeting the 50 percent threshold for victory within the city’s new ranked-choice voting system.

“Tuesday’s results showed that the Upper West Side believes in continuing to build an inclusive neighborhood, where everyone is welcome, with thriving small businesses, and where government works for the people,” Brewer said in a statement. “The West Side is in my bones. I have lived and worked, raised kids, and been devoted to building a diverse and caring community on these UWS blocks, through crime waves, recessions, Mayors both Democrat and Republican, and this pandemic. I am so honored by the trust placed in me by the voters of District 6.”

Brewer spent 12 years representing the Upper West Side on the City Council before she was elected to the borough president’s office in 2012. In the six-way race, Brewer received the lion’s share of the endorsements, including those from Congress members Jerry Nadler and Adriano Espailliat, State Senators Liz Krueger, Robert Jackson and Jose Serrano, Assembly Members Richard Gottfried and Linda Rosenthal, as well more than 40 labor unions and several Democratic clubs.

In the end, no one came close to pulling off an upset, with Brewer tallying 17,220 first-place votes, followed by Maria Danzilo with 4,805 votes, Sara Lind with 4,368 votes, Jeffrey Omura with 3,328 votes, David Gold with 1,469 votes and Zachary Weiner with 810 votes, according to NY1.

Absentee Ballots

These results include only the first-choice votes cast in person during early voting and on primary day. The city does not expect to have the final certified results until the second week of July – which will include absentee ballots as well as the ranked-choice tabulations. However, in the case of District 6, since Brewer received over 50 percent of the first-place votes, both the Associated Press and NY1 calling the race for the current borough president.

Omura was the only candidate to release a public statement Wednesday, essentially conceding the election to Brewer.

“While mine is the name that appeared on the ballot, we all know that a campaign is about so much more than a candidate. It’s about the values we believe in, the ideas we share, the neighbors we’ve come to know and learn from, and the community that we’ve ultimately hoped to represent,” Omura said in a tweet. “I will never ever ever forget the time and the work and the heart that so many people put into this campaign—a campaign that carried my name, but that stands for what we all believe in.”

As of now, Brewer is the only candidate seeking election in District 6 as there was no Republicans sought their party’s nomination Tuesday. Independent candidates may still enter race for the general election in November – but, considering the demographics of the district, Brewer will still be the favorite to take back her old seat.