BY SAM SPOKONY | Corey Johnson, chair of Community Board 4 (CB4), was elected on November 5 to be the new City Councilmember for District 3, after running virtually unopposed.
Johnson, a Democrat who also ran on the Working Families Party line, took about 86.5 percent of the vote in a district that includes the West Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen, defeating Republican Richard Stewart, a New York University professor, who took about 13.5 percent.
“People keep asking me, ‘how does it feel?’ Honestly, I don’t feel different at all,” said Johnson on the night of the election, when he was declared the winner just minutes after the polls closed. “I’m the same old Corey, just in a new office.”
The District 3 seat has been held by Christine Quinn for the past 14 years. Johnson will take office on January 1.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be elected to represent the incredible people and neighborhoods of our district on the City Council,” he said. “I’m looking forward to continuing to fight for more affordable housing, classroom seats and open space on the West Side so that our communities remain vibrant and affordable for all New Yorkers — but especially those of us who have fallen behind and need help.”
In September, Johnson defeated civil rights lawyer Yetta Kurland by 25 percentage points in the District 3 Democratic primary. During that race, Kurland constantly tried to sling mud at Johnson — especially regarding his past work for real estate developers. But voters still trusted the CB4 chair’s leadership, and he emerged as an even stronger candidate after several primary debates.
In the primary, Johnson won a majority at virtually every polling place in the district. In the general election, he captured over 22,000 votes, and his 63 percent margin of victory paralleled Quinn’s election wins over the course of her tenure in heavily Democratic District 3.
In interviews with this newspaper, Johnson has said that he plans to join the Council’s Progressive Caucus once he is in office. To that end, he has already signed on to a proposal, led by Councilmember Brad Lander of Brooklyn, to institute progressive reforms to the Council’s member item and discretionary funding rules.
“This is the first order of business, so people really should be watching over the next few months, as we plan to make some significant reforms in the Council,” said Johnson in that Chelsea Now interview (published September 25). “I’m looking forward to teaming up with all these good folks in the Progressive Caucus who want to reform the Council to make it more democratic, to empower individual members, to take favoritism out of the member item process and to make staff allocations and committee assignments more fair.”
The reform proposal is currently supported by a majority of the City Council.
