It had been a fairly short night, but a long day and campaign when Assemblymember Harvey Epstein stepped up in the back of Mary O’s bar on Avenue A in front of a screen showing mostly mayoral race election coverage.
With at least 85 percent of the votes tabulated, Epstein said he was at nearly 40%, significantly ahead of other candidates in the Democratic primary for the Second District City Council race.
Supporters in the heavily Democratic district chanted “Harvey, Harvey, Harvey” before he smiled and told them his lead now appeared conclusive, even though it could be at least a week before votes based on rankings were tabulated to give a clear majority.
Epstein had won over 10,000 votes or 39%, while Sarah Batchu and Andrea Gordillo each had a little more than 5,500 or about 21%, Anthony Weiner had about 10% or about 2,700, and Allie Ryan had a little more than 2,000 or just under8%.
Epstein in the Assembly represents the East Side of Manhattan, including the Lower East Side, East Village, Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village, Murray Hill, Kips Bay, Tudor City and the United Nations.
“You know really from the bottom of my heart, this is a community I love, a community I raised my children in, a community Anita (Epstein’s spouse) and I have lived our lives in,” he said. “This is our home, our friends, our neighborhood. It’s a privilege to have served our neighborhood in the Assembly and to be the next council member for District Two.”
Dressed in an orange shirt and khaki shorts, Epstein, elected in 2018, said he had reached what he called a point where statistics indicated victory.
“We’ve been working hard, getting our questionnaires together, getting our materials out, our videos, on the street,” he said. “Thank you all for all the work you’ve done. It’s been a crazy day. I want to thank you for the energy, time and commitment you had to get us to where we are today.”
The bar burst into cheers as people who worked and volunteered for Epstein celebrated, surrounded by campaign memorabilia stuffed into bags and lying around. Amara Ostroff, at age 21, had been working on campaigns since 14, but said working as Epstein’s field manager was her first full-time job out of college.
“This is my community. I love the Lower East Side, the East Village,” said Ostroff, adding she had started her work day at 5 a.m. “I was looking for a job in politics. I saw Harvey. I thought, as my Assemblymember he’s done some incredible work for this community.”
She was interviewed in the same bar where the victory party was held as the campaign “came full circle.”
“I think the work he’s done is impactful. He has so much empathy. He knows the people in this community,” Ostroff said. “I walk down the street with him. It’s almost annoying. We stop every thirty seconds to talk to somebody that he knows, that he helped.”
The victory in some ways marked the community winning over celebrity or at least notoriety, with Epstein garnering far more votes than Anthony Weiner, although other candidates also did well. A Saturday Night Live skit at least briefly further thrust this emphatically local election into the national spotlight.
“We’re his neighbors. We got to know him before politics were involved,” John Ellis, an East Village resident, said. “He was a good guy. He’s a good listener. He remembers everyone. I liked him before I thought of him as a politician.”
Other residents said Epstein is right on issues they care about, including immigration and housing.
“He stands up for all the issues we care about, immigrant rights, housing rights, racial justice,” said Mable Tso, an East Village resident. “We live in a Mitchell-lama. He worked on passing a bill in the legislature that reduced the rent burden of Mitchell-Lamas in Manhattan. That just passed and is waiting to get signed by the governor.”
Other people talked about how Epstein, a lawyer, listens and legislates, achieving recognition because of what he does right to help local residents.
“We were chatting with voters. People know him well in this area,” his son Joshua said. “Having people see the poster and saying they voted for him. Other people appreciate him the way we do.”
His daughter Leila said she spent a lot of time with her father recently, when he was in Albany, where she lives. “He lived with me when he was in Albany,” Leila said. “I spent the last six months every week with him. So I do a lot with him. I work in Albany.”
Epstein grew up on Long Island, living in Wantagh and attending Levittown schools, his mother Barbara said.
“He was the president of his senior class in the Levittown school district,” she said, noting she had thrown her hat in first for a local position in a heavily Republican area. “I ran for Town of Hempstead clerk and supervisor.”
Epstein worked as an attorney, before working in government, but people who know him say as a lawyer he was working on issues, focusing on causes and community, that would concern him later.
“I’ve been a housing attorney. Harvey was a local housing attorney,” said Joan Beranbaum, co-president of her local Democratic club. “That’s a really important thing to be doing, to protect the tenants of the city of New York.”
He served on the local community board for many years, including as community board chairman. “He was a good chair. He was even-handed. People liked him. He ran things well,” said Community Board 3 District Manager Susan Stetzer. “He very much listens to the community and fights for the issues important to the community.”
Barbara Epstein, his mother, said that while getting to know residents, by campaigning, she got to know more about her son.
“He’s worked very hard on this campaign and extremely hard being a New York State Assemblyman for his constituents,” she said. “I was out campaigning with my granddaughter. I met someone who said to thank him. He helped her not get evicted from her apartment.”
