Two Assembly Seats Decided
September 13th, 2011
One barely had to wait for the results given the apparent lopsidedness of the contests but enough unofficial returns are in to call two of the four Assembly seats up for grabs in the city.
East Side Republicans extended their losing streak (decades ago this was GOP turf) as the Democrat, community board member and attorney Daniel Quart bested another attorney, Paul Niehuas, to fill the seat from the 73rd Assemby District. The seat became vacant when Jonathan Bing stepped down to take a state post.
With 25 of 113 precincts reporting, Quart was besting Niehaus by a 2-to-1 margin.
In Queens’ 27th district, Michael Simanowitz handily defeated Republican Marco DeSena to take the seat previously held by his old boss, Nettie Mayersohn. With about a third of precincts reporting, Simanowitz had 74 percent of the vote with DeSena at 26 percent.
By most accounts, Simanowitz had left little to chance. Mayersohn ran for re-election last fall and then suddenly decided a few months later that she wanted to spend more time with her family and resigned. That left the job of picking the Democratic nominee for her seat to party bosses –rather than the party rank and file. And when one Democrat did try to take on Simanowitz, the Board of Elections knocked him off the ballot on a technicality.
A little known onetime political aide, DeSena had little name recognition and even less money.
By Gail Robinson on September 13, 2011, 11:15 pmIn category: Albany, Electoral Politics, Gotham City | No Comments »
