News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Weds. June 23, 2021: Several Caribbean Americans were declared unofficial winners in Tuesday’s New York Primary elections as the new ranked-choice voting system delays the official declaration of a winner to mid-July.
Preliminary results from the New York Board of Elections from voting on Tuesday show Caribbean American candidates Jumaane Williams, Farah Louis, Rita Joseph, Mercedes Narcisse and Crystal Hudson leading in the in-person ballot.
Williams, the son of Grenadian immigrants defending his post of New York City Public Advocate, is way ahead of his nearest challenger, Anthony Herbert with 486,538 votes, or 71 per cent, to Herbert’s 144,922 votes, or 21.2 per cent.
In Queens, the incumbent Borough President, Donovan Richards, who traces his roots to Jamaica, is in a tight race with his closest challenger, Elizabeth Crowley. With 76.64 per cent of precincts reporting, Richards is leading with 64,814 votes, or 41.7 per cent, to Crowley’s 62,738 votes, or 40.4 per cent.
In Brooklyn’s 35th Council District, Crystal Hudson, the daughter and granddaughter of Jamaican immigrants, is leading the seven-way race that includes Renee Collymore, the daughter of a Barbadian father.
Hudson is trying to succeed term-limited City Council Member Laurie Cumbo in the district that comprises the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and a portion of Bedford-Stuyvesant.
With 100 per cent of the precincts reporting, Hudson has received 12,308 votes, or 38.6 per cent. Her closest challenger, Michael Hollingsworth, has secured 11,017 votes, or 34.5 per cent.
If Hudson is eventually declared the official winner, she will be the first openly gay Black woman elected to the New York City Council.
In the race to succeed Dr. Eugene, another Haitian is leading the race among 10 other candidates in Brooklyn’s 40th Council District. Haitian American Rita Joseph, a long time public school teacher and community activist in Brooklyn, is ahead of her Haitian-born compatriot Josue Pierre, who is in second place. Joseph has earned 5,060 votes, or 25.3 per cent, to Pierre’s 4,073 votes, or 20.4 per cent.
In the adjacent, 45th Council District, which is also heavily Caribbean-populated, the incumbent, Haitian American New York City Council Member, Farah N. Louis, is poised to win the seat by a landslide. With 82. 64 per cent of the precinct reporting, Louis, the daughter of Haitian immigrants, is far ahead of her closest rival, Jamaican American Anthony Beckford, a US Marine veteran and community activist. Louis has received 12,812 votes, or 76 per cent, to Beckford’s 3,335 votes, or 19.8 per cent.
In the race for representation in the 46th Council District in Brooklyn, Haitian-born registered nurse Mercedes Narcisse is leading in the eight-way contest. With 83.48 per cent of precincts reporting, Narcisse – who was endorsed by veteran New York State Assemblyman Jamaican N. Nick Perry, representative for the 58th Assembly District in Brooklyn – has received 5,856 votes, or 35.9 per cent.
