Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that the special election would be held March 24 (Mayor’s Office)
Jan. 3, 2019 By Christian Murray
The special election for Queens borough president has been set for March 24, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced last night.
Five candidates are vying for the spot that was exited by Melinda Katz when she became Queens District Attorney Jan. 1.
Council Members Jimmy Van Bramer, Donovan Richards and Costa Constantinides seek the job along with former Council Member Elizabeth Crowley and Anthony Miranda, a retired NYPD sergeant and police reform advocate.
On Monday, Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman dropped out of the race to get behind Donovan Richards who has the backing of the Queens County Democratic party. Both are African Americans from south east Queens.
The candidates now have 12 days to secure 2,000 valid signatures in order to get on the ballot.
The borough president appoints half the members of the 14 community boards in Queens; gets an advisory say on proposed rezonings; allocates millions of dollars on parks, education and other programs; and is an advocate for the borough.
The position pays $179,200 per year.
Katz’s deputy, Sharon Lee, is currently serving as acting borough president.
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12 Comments
James Quinn former ADA Just entered the race. If you want a law and order candidate who has common sense please choose him. Thank you.
Use your brains queens!! don’t vote for a block buster . don’t vote for a militant .
There was a time decades ago when the Queens Republican Party was alive and well. Up until the 1980’s, Queens Republicans routinely qualified candidates for all Congressional, State Senate, Assembly, Boro President and NYC Council seats. During Mayor Rudy Guilian’s term in the 1990’s, they elected three NYC Council members Tom Olgibene, Mike Abel and Alfonse Stabile. Today the last GOP public official from Queens is NYC Council member Eric Ulrich. Due to term limits, he will serve until December 31, 2001. With over 125,000 registered Queens GOP voters, can they obtain 2,000 signatures to quality a candidate for Queens Borough President in this non partisan special election? Edgar Nathan was the last GOP Queens borough president who served from 1942 – 1945. Nat Hentel was the last GOP District Attorney in 1970.
Six Democrats running in this special election are going to split the vote which could give one Republican a chance to win. You would think that Republicans would find a candidate. Not doing so, will result in the remaining Queens Republicans continuing on the same path of an old fashion street corner telephone booth into extinction .
Larry Penner
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Nice to see the legendary Larry Penner on this board! Awesome letter-to-the-editor writer for many years in the local papers.
The Queens Republican Party is practically non-existent. And with the resurgence of the North-South war between the Vicky Paladino camp and County, it will never recover. Ulrich is partly to blame as he was behind the coup to oust Bob Turner. Not that it really matters, the districts have all been gerrymandered so that the 125,000 registered Republicans are all scattered into majority Dem districts.
With the exception of Staten Island, the Republican Party in the other four boroughs exists solely to provide a few patronage jobs at the Board of Elections for the kids of top party members. That’s it. It is not possible mathematically for them to win any elections.
A little late for a GOP candidate to enter the race with a week left for qualifying signatures. James Quinn just declared, making it a more interesting race.
A completely useless position. Just get rid of it. Are there quantifiable results from any actions of this position? Does it exist simply because people think it does? They have limited power, so why keep them? Just because? How many more useless politicians need to be in office? These whining, useless, political hacks vying for it just want to continue feeding their own egos.
Agreed. 179k a year is a joke for a position that does not yield any positive results for anyone. Spend the money elsewhere.
great rant, does it have anything to do with this election specifically or just trite rants like “these whining, useless, political hacks vying for it?”
yes it has everything to do with the election. More taxpayer monies wasted to fill a position that is completely useless. As useless as OKBoomer responses from whining snowflakes who like swinging from JVBs sack.
I thought it was only used to mock how completely unoriginal and dated Trump lovers are
Keep swinging from JVBs sack. Avoid the issue because you want upvotes on this site
Per City and State, the winner of the special election has to compete again in a June primary, and then win a November general election in order to serve the rest of Katz’s term through 2021.