All the rabbinic endorsements, statements of his support for yeshivas, and an eleventh-hour pilgrimage to the Lubavitcher Rebbe's ohel failed to secure a win for Queens Republican Eric Ulrich in his bid to stage a political upset on Tuesday. With 32 percent of the vote in the 17-person special election, Brooklyn Councilman Jumaane Williams was declared the winner by the city's leading news organizations within an hour of the polls closing. He received nearly 121,000 votes, according to NY1 News, with 92 percent of the poll sites reporting their results. Ulrich came up second with 19 percent of the vote.
The winner of the special election finishes the term vacated by Letitia James following her election last November as the state's Attorney General. With the following term starting in 2020, Williams must begin petitioning for the June Democratic primary to remain in office, followed by the general election in November.
A former tenant organizer, the 42-year-old son of Grenadian immigrants was first elected to the City Council in 2010. He used his position to bring attention to abuses of power and racial profiling by police officers, and passed legislation forbidding employers from inquiring about past criminal convictions from job applicants. Last year he boldly confronted his party's leadership with a grassroots run for Lieutenant Governor against Kathy Hochul. Losing with a commendable 46 percent of the vote. The run gave Williams name recognition across the city, paving the way to his Tuesday victory in an unusually crowded field of candidates.
He is not a stranger to the Orthodox Jewish community as his Council district touches on portions of Midwood and Flatbush. In 2013, he teamed up with then-Councilman David Greenfield on an educational school trip with black and Hispanic students from Brooklyn Academy High School and their peers from Yeshiva of Flatbush on a tour of the Museum of Jewish Heritage and the African Burial Ground in downtown Manhattan in an effort to foster mutual understanding.
Jumaane Williams Wins Public Advocate Race Amid Low Turnout
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