BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | You might as well just call it Zephyr Village.
In the Sept. 9 Democratic primary for governor, upstart candidate Zephyr Teachout scored her highest margin of victory anywhere in the state in Greenwich Village’s 66th Assembly District, taking 68 percent of the vote.
According to New York City Board of Election results, in the 66th A.D., Teachout won 4156 votes to Andrew Cuomo’s 1885, and Randy Credico’s 109.
The 66th A.D. includes the West Village, Noho, Soho, Hudson Square and Tribeca.
Teachout’s second-highest total came in high-voting northern Brooklyn’s 52nd Assembly District — covering the liberal enclaves of Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens and Gowanus — where she garnered 64 percent of the primary total, with 6783 votes to 3664 for Cuomo.
Teachout did extremely well on Manhattan’s West Side, in general. She won the 75th Assembly District, just north of the 66th A.D. — which includes Chelsea, the Flatiron District, part of Hells Kitchen and Central Park South. She brought home 3010 votes to Cuomo’s 2602, good for 53 percent of the total. Ninety-four registered Democrats backed Credico.
In the 67th A.D., covering the heart of the Upper West Side, Teachout notched another 53 percent win, with 4073 votes to Cuomo’s 3540. Credico took 119 votes.
In the adjacent Assembly district to the north, the 69th — covering more of the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights and the Columbia University area — Teachout won again, with 56 percent of the vote.
However, back in Lower Manhattan, Cuomo pulled off a 58 percent win in Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s 64th A.D., covering the Financial District, Battery Park City, the South St. Seaport, Chinatown, Little Italy and most of the Lower East Side.
But just to north of there, in the 74th A.D. — including the East Village, Stuyvesant Town, Gramercy and Kips Bay — Teachout ran virtually neck and neck with Cuomo; the governor won 49 percent, to Teachout’s 48.7 percent and Credico’s 2.2 percent.
In Uptown districts it was a different story as Cuomo repeatedly trounced Teachout.
In the 70th A.D., including Harlem, the governor secured 70 percent of votes cast.
In the 68th district, covering East Harlem, Cuomo won 73 percent of the votership.
In northern Manhattan’s 71st and 72nd Assembly districts, including Washington Heights and Inwood, Cuomo also won big.
He convincingly won the 65th A.D. — which covers the eastern part of the Upper East Side — but the race for the rest of the Upper East Side was surprisingly close: Cuomo won 2594 votes (51 percent) while Teachout got 2354 (47 percent) in the 73rd A.D., which includes tony Fifth, Park, Madison and Lexington Aves. Credico got 1.5 percent (76 votes).
Meanwhile, Tim Wu, Teachout’s running mate, also fared very well in the Village and Chelsea. The lieutenant governor candidate, who coined the term “’Net neutrality,” formerly lived in the Village and currently lives in Chelsea.
In the Village’s 66th A.D., Wu did even better than Teachout, winning 70 percent of ballots cast, taking 4236 votes to Kathy Hochul’s 1812.
In Chelsea’s 75th A.D., his home district, the Columbia law professor won 3,308 votes to Hochul’s 2,228, chalking up a 60 percent win.
In vote-heavy northern Brooklyn’s 52nd A.D., Wu racked up 68 percent of the turnout, garnering 7065 ballots cast to his opponent’s 3262.
Ayo Harrington, co-president of Coalition for a District Alternative, the East Village political club, said it came as no surprise that Teachout ran so strongly.
“She did very well,” Harrington said. “She got a lot of votes at all of the poll sites I checked. In the days prior to the election, everybody was saying, ‘I gotta vote tomorrow because I’m going to vote Zephyr Teachout.’ ”
For his part, Speaker Silver was glad that his district delivered for the governor.
“I am not surprised Governor Cuomo won my assembly district,” Silver told The Villager. “Over the past four years, Governor Cuomo has achieved an enormous amount for our community, our city and our state. Working with the governor we have raised the minimum wage, made our tax code fairer, improved our economy and strengthened and protected affordable housing. I look forward to continuing to work with him to improve the lives of all New Yorkers.”
