NYC-CC03: Election for NYC Council seat in home of Stonewall appears headed for ranked-choice voting
Tuesday’s special election for the 3rd Council District seat on Manhattan's West Side appears headed to ranked-choice voting — with no candidate expected to clear the 50% threshold needed to win outright that night. It could take about a week before a winner is declared.
Carl Wilson — who served as chief of staff to the seat's previous occupant, Erik Bottcher, and had broad union and political club backing — had a commanding lead in unofficial results Tuesday night over the other three candidates, with about 43% of the vote and 95% of ballots scanned. Election Night tallies do not include absentee ballots or mail-in ballots that haven’t yet been received and processed.
The race — for a district that covers the West Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen — drew six-figure outside spending and became a proxy battle between Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who supported fellow democratic socialist Lindsey Boylan, and City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who supported Wilson.
The uncertain results also leave open the question of whether the district, home of the Stonewall monument and the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, will continue to be served by an out gay representative, as it has since 1991. Wilson was the only out gay candidate in the race.
https://gothamist.com/news/special-election-for-nyc-council-seat-in-home-of-stonewall-appears-headed-for-runoff