Richards, Crowley battle for top spot in closely contested Queens borough president race

Voters in Queens used ranked-choice voting to pick between three Democratic candidates running for borough president in the primary election on Tuesday, June 22, with two candidates vying for the top spot in the hotly contested race.

Incumbent Donovan Richards held a small lead over Elizabeth Crowley, the former District 30 councilwoman, as of 11 p.m. Tuesday night, with term-limited District 26 City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer in third place, with more than 88 percent of precincts reported, according to unofficial results from the city’s Board of Elections.

Richards secured 40.92 percent of the vote (43,902 votes), with Crowley right behind him at 40.81 percent of the vote (43,788 votes), according to the BOE. Van Bramer followed with 17.84 percent of the vote (19,146 votes).

Only preliminary unofficial results, including ballots cast during the early voting period and on Election Day, will be available from the Board of Elections (BOE) Tuesday night. Absentee ballots will not be a part of the initial tally.

The close race is no surprise, as Richards and Crowley competed in the closely contested special election in 2020 to fill the seat vacated by Melinda Katz, who was elected to become Queens district attorney in 2019. The race came down to the wire, with Crowley finishing in second place, trailing Richards by only 7 percent of the vote.

Following the Democratic primary, Richards became the first Black man to win the Queens borough presidency in the November 2020 general election, beating out Republican challenger Joann Ariola and third party candidate Dao Yin. Election results showed that Richards earned 69.8 percent of the vote, which translated to 518,840 votes to Ariola’s 205,893 votes. Winning the primary today is the first step to keeping that role for a full term.

Prior to serving as borough president, Richards was the councilman for District 31, which represents constituents in Arverne, Brookville, Edgemere, Laurelton, Springfield Gardens and Far Rockaway, from 2013 to 2020.

Richards’ re-election campaign prioritized COVID-19 recovery, building more affordable housing, improving transportation by redesigning streets, improving the borough’s bike network and increasing bus service and combating the rampant hate crimes across the borough.

In a statement to QNS earlier Tuesday, Richards touted his accomplishments in his first six months as borough president.

“In just over six months as borough president, we’ve worked hard to deliver on the platform we proposed last year. We quickly expanded access to the COVID-19 vaccine, broke ground on thousands of new units of real affordable housing, modernized and diversified our community boards, secured $17.5 million for small business assistance, invested nearly $12 million into our local healthcare system, and opened the first of its kind Immigrant Welcome Center at Borough Hall,” Richards said. “Now it’s time to continue to build on the progress we’ve made, and work to ensure our streets are safe, our borough is more affordable, and our small businesses are able to flourish.”

He received key endorsements from 20 fellow Queens elected officials, as well as 26 local unions and organizations that supported his re-election campaign.

Crowley is the most moderate of the three democratic candidates. According to her campaign, she is in support of hiring more police officers and criticizes the term “defund the police.” Crowley said she wants to diversify the police force, as well.

“We have to go back to the fundamentals: Good schools, affordable living, and safe streets,” Crowley said. “I have a proven record on all of these issues: my City Council district is no longer the most overcrowded. I’m the only candidate in the race to not take developer money, and I have taken on City Hall consistently to fight for our fair share of public safety resources.”

The lifelong Queens resident was the first woman and Democrat elected to the City Council in District 30 and served on the Council for nine years. She told QNS that the top three issues facing the borough are a post-COVID economic comeback, improvements to public education and expanding transit and affordable housing for Queens residents.

Van Bramer, who was in the middle of a campaign for borough president last year before dropping out, is considered the most progressive candidate and has received endorsements from Cynthia Nixon and state Senator Jessica Ramos. He’s a founding member of the progressive caucus of the City Council.

Van Bramer said he feels energized by the positive response from voters at poll sites on Election Day. He believes that he is the clear choice for borough president.

“I’m very different from my opponents,” he said. “We have a hopeful message and a message that’s centered on a Queens for everyone that works for everyone.”

Van Bramer pointed out that he is an independent campaign and has not taken funds from real estate developers.

“We’re focused on small businesses, tenants and fighting anti-union corporations like Amazon,” Van Bramer said. “It’s a very progressive and hopeful message. We’re making sure that everyone has a place here in the greatest borough in the city.”

If elected, Van Bramer wants to prioritize small businesses, he believes they are the heart of the New York City economy and local communities.

“We’re really focused on making sure that there is small business relief and that we finally enact commercial rent control and real meaningful things that will make sure that small businesses will continue to thrive,” Van Bramer said.

Van Bramer, who comes from a working-class family in Astoria, believes his experience has helped him understand what is really critically important to small business owners.

“I care a great deal about the working class,” Van Bramer said. “I know the struggle that most people experience in Queens: they struggle to pay the rent, make the bills and feed the family; I lived that. That [is a] powerful experience to have as an elected official.”

The BOE plans to count the rest of the votes on June 29, but those will also only include early voting and election day ballots.

They also plan to release updates on the absentee ballots one week after that on July 6. Complete results should be available by July 12, but there is no set date. An official result will be made when every vote is counted.

The general election will take place on Nov. 2, 2021.

Additional reporting by Zach Gewelb and Angélica Acevedo.