Newcomer and progressive Democrat Zellnor Myrie defeated incumbent State Sen. Jesse Hamilton last night, to win the 20th Senate District Democratic Party primary race.
According to the Board of Elections for New York State, Myrie won with 22,601 votes to Hamilton’s 19,138, or a total of 51.3% to 43.44%, with all 213 precincts reporting at publication time.
Myrie credited his win to the local community and voters who made their voices heard against the former Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) member.
“When we started this journey last year, there weren’t many people who thought we could get this done. The traditional folks didn’t think we could get this done, but we believed in what we could. We knew that people didn’t want business as usual, we need that the status quo couldn’t serve anymore and we knew that we needed new leadership right here in Central Brooklyn,” said Myrie.
The wide-ranging district includes Brownsville, Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Gowanus, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, South Slope, and Sunset Park.
The newcomer also made sure to credit his mom for giving him the inspiration to run and be a part of local government.
“I would not be standing here without you. Your story has inspired so many people. Your story is the 20th Senate District story. It is a story of New York and I want to publicly thank you for everything that you’ve done,” said Myrie.
Hamilton was a member of the now defunct IDC, a group of eight rogue senate Democrats that previously caucused with Senate Republicans, giving them a majority. The membership left him with very little allies within his own party including that of Assemblywoman Diana Richardson (D-Crown Heights, East Flatbush, Lefferts Gardens, Wingate) who became one of Myrie’s strongest advocates.
“I want to thank the elected officials who stepped out when it wasn’t cool. There is one special elected official [Richardson] that stepped out and spoke out, that was unabashed, and who spoke truth to power. It’s not easy to do what she did and I want to recognize her for that,” said Myrie.
Also of note at Myrie’s victory celebration was City Council Speaker Corey Johnson, who made a quick cameo appearance to congratulate the rookie senator-elect along with Assembly members Robert Carroll, Jo Anne Simon and City Council member Brad Lander.
