U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Flatbush, Kensington, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Midwood, Sheepshead Bay, Marine Park, Gerritsen Beach, Prospect Lefferts Gardens), last night crushed the field as she cruised to a landslide victory in the Congressional Democratic Primary.
According to unofficial numbers, with 80 percent of the vote counted, Clarke received 29,254 votes or 60.8 percent of the electorate.
Adem Bunkeddeko, who has challenged Clarke for the second time and narrowly lost to her two years ago, had 19.1 percent or 9,180 votes of the electorate.
City Councilman Chaim Deutsch (Brighton Beach, Gerritsen Beach, Gravesend, Manhattan Beach, Marine Park, Midwood, Plum Beach, Sheepshead Bay) finished in third place with 4,725 votes or 9.8 percent of the electorate.
“I’m very excited about the possibilities, and looking at the numbers right now, we’re doing very well,” said Clarke at her election watch party.
This year’s turbulent election season came amid a health crisis leaving the city’s Board of Elections (BOE) scrambling.
The BOE distributed 75,653 mail-in ballots and a total of 1,210 ballots were returned for the Democratic Party in Brooklyn. There were also some reported polling place issues. At the polling site located at Success Academy, 72 Veronica Place, a source said this morning that no keys were available to unlock ballot scanners. A site coordinator tried to resolve the problem in a timely fashion but ended up handing out affidavits to voters.
But Clarke and her followers were happy to claim victory.
“I’m glad the people of the 9th Congressional District saw in her [Clarke] what I’ve always seen in her. She is a powerful, dignified, legislator,” said Assemblywoman Latrice Walker (D-Brownsville), who worked for Clarke in government as a young attorney.
