State Sen. Michael Gianaris (Michael Gianaris /Flickr)
June 23, 2020 By Allie Griffin
Incumbent Michael Gianaris is cruising to victory in the primary race for his current state senate seat representing Western Queens.
Gianaris has a significant lead over competitor and retired sanitation worker Ignazio “Iggy” Terranova. He had garnered nearly 74 percent of votes for the 12th Senate District, according to unofficial results from the NYC Board of Elections with 78 percent of scanners reported at around midnight.
The results are not final, since an unprecedented number of absentee ballots have yet to be counted. The BOE will begin counting absentee ballots by hand after June 30.
Tonight’s unofficial results are gathered from in-person ballots cast Tuesday and during early voting.
However, Gianaris — who has represented the 12th district in the State Senate since 2010 and currently serves as Deputy Majority Leader, the second-highest ranking member of the Senate — will likely take the race.
Thank you pic.twitter.com/hU35vm99sp
— Sen. Mike Gianaris (@SenGianaris) June 24, 2020
“Hey everyone, we did it,” Gianaris said in a video he posted to Twitter shortly after 10 p.m. “We had a resounding victory tonight.”
Both Gianaris and Terranova were raised in Astoria as children of immigrants. Gianaris was born in the neighborhood, while Terranova moved to Astoria when he was two years old.
Gianaris, however, leans more to the left than the insurgent candidate. The incumbent, who was a critic of the Amazon deal, led the way in Albany passing new rent protection laws and bail reform.
He said his likely win proves the success of the progressive movement.
“Make no mistake, our opponents wanted this election to be a referendum on the progressive movement in the Democratic party and boy was it ever,” Gianaris said. “We stood up and made a statement that this movement is built to last and is here to stay.”
Terranova had blamed Gianaris for the Amazon HQ2 deal falling through in Long Island City. He said the loss of 25,000 jobs promised by the e-commerce giant inspired him to run.
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5 Comments
It is a shame, that Gianaris would win District 12 again! The legal citizens desperately need a change. Having a one party system in N.Y.C is one step away from COMMUNISM. I already have my bags packed and moving to a state where the voters are free thinkers and not zombies who vote for a party who has lost it’s conscience- it’s heart! Keep Gianaris and his ultra liberal party of supporting the criminal element in the city. I will always support the hard working citizen who believes in our Constitution and The Bill of Rights over lawless thugs who rather pull down our history and loot stores! My heart is heavy as I know socialism- communism does not work. Our freedom is more important rather than marching to in lockstep to big government, huge taxes and a nanny who tells us constantly what to do , how to think, and believes in mind control and limited individual freedom. Keep Gianaris, he is only a puppet, his marinette who pulls his strings is a dark – ugly face who wants to control the masses. They are willing to give monthly checks for your vote and to control your mind .
Please vote in the general election in November when other independent and republican voters are allowed to vote including democrats who support law, peace and order when we have other candidates running against Gianaris or any ridiculous ultra liberal or socialist agenda!!!
So now that we re-elected the politicians who pushed jobs away from us, what is their plan to bring them back? I really don’t understand the voters here.
If you look at the voting statistics in many cases it’s about 5-10% of people that show up for local elections. With that knowledge progressives realized that they can get their candidates elected by simply showing up to vote, even if they are in the minority. The majority of population are stuck with these politicians now simply because people didn’t show up to vote.
This was a Dem primary only, between leftist democrats and radical socialists. No other voters allowed to vote. All others to vote in the general elections in November.