U.S. Rep. Jerrold Nadler beat fellow incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a race that pit the two 30-year congressional veterans against one another for a seat in a redrawn New York district.
Nadler had 56% of the vote with 53% of votes counted as of 9:38 p.m. in New York, according to the Associated Press. Maloney had 24.3% and Suraj Patel had 18.3%, according to the AP, which called the race for Nadler.
The 12th Congressional District matchup on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and Upper East Side featured two powerful committee chairs: Nadler, 75, on the Judiciary Committee and Maloney, 76, on Oversight. Patel is a 38-year-old former aide to President Barack Obama who touted himself as a generational alternative.
“New Yorkers get to choose who best represents the people and values of this city. The voters made themselves clear tonight,” Nadler said in a victory speech at the Arte Cafe on the Upper West Side.
Nadler said he spoke to Maloney and Patel, who he said had both conceded. “Carolyn Maloney and I have spent much of our adult lives working together for the betterment of both New York and the country,” he said.
Upstate in the Hudson Valley, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, who is leading the Democratic effort to keep control of the House, trounced progressive state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, by more than 34 percentage points, according to AP.
Biaggi, the granddaughter of former U.S. Rep. Mario Biaggi, was endorsed by New York Democratic U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
New York’s congressional primaries are among the most-watched in the country, with a chaotic redistricting battle pushing back the primary and setting up a rare incumbent-versus-incumbent battle.
The late August races in New York and Florida mark the two biggest states left on the 2022 primary calendar going into a midterm election that will decide control of Congress and governor’s offices in 36 states.
It’s been a cycle dominated by intraparty divisions on both sides — Republicans over their loyalty to Trump and Democrats over how far left the party should govern. And it’s been intensified by redrawn political maps that have most members of Congress running in new districts.
Both Nadler and Maloney relied heavily on key constituencies. Nadler campaigned as the last remaining Jewish member of the New York delegation. Maloney’s first campaign ad highlighted her role as a pioneering woman in the House and ended with the tag line “You cannot send a man to do a woman’s job.” Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 7-to-1 margin in the city, and the primary winner will be heavily favored in November.
The race was marked by low turnout in a primary held in the dead of August when many New Yorkers are taking summer vacation. As of 6 p.m., only about 10% of eligible voters had cast ballots, according to the New York City Board of Elections.
“It’s terrible,” said Alice Kane, a lawyer in Manhattan’s Midtown East neighborhood, about the redistricting fracas that delayed the primary date from June to August.
Kane said she voted for Maloney in New York’s 12th Congressional district, but that the choice between the two was a tough one. “I think it’s a shame we had to pit Nadler against her. We had to make a choice. It’s hard.”
Leslie Lewis, 49, a business owner who lives near Lincoln Center in Manhattan said she voted for Patel because of his high-energy and intellect. She said Maloney, Nadler and Patel were all good candidates and that it was “shocking” they all got thrown into the same district. She voted for Patel because he was a “breath of fresh air” compared to Nadler and Maloney, who have served in Congress for three decades.
In Lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn, a dozen Democrats are vying for an open seat in the 10th Congressional District. Attorney Dan Goldman, a Levi Strauss & Co. heir best known for his prosecution of Trump’s first impeachment trial, leads a field of candidates that include Rep. Mondaire Jones, who moved from his Hudson Valley district to Brooklyn because of redistricting; state Assemblywoman Yuh-Line Niou; New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera; and former U.S. Rep. Liz Holtzman, who served in Congress from 1973 to 1981.
In a tighter race, Goldman led the pack with 25.2% of the vote with 93.3% of votes counted, followed by Niou with 24.3% and Jones with 18%, according to AP, which hasn’t called the race.
In Florida, U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist — a former Republican — will be the Democratic candidate to challenge incumbent Gov. Ron DeSantis in a race that could have implications for the 2024 presidential election.
Crist, who served a term as Florida governor from 2007 to 2011, defeated state agriculture commissioner Nikki Fried in a primary Tuesday to take on DeSantis in November. The incumbent governor has emerged as one of the leading Republican alternatives to former President Donald Trump.
The Associated Press called the Democratic primary shortly after the final polls in the state closed with Crist leading Fried by more than 25 percentage points.
Rep. Val Demings handily won a four-way Democratic primary to run against Republican Sen. Marco Rubio.
Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz, a staunch Trump ally, defeated Marine Corps veteran Mark Lombardo Florida’s 1st Congressional District. Gaetz is under investigation for sex trafficking after sending online payments to a 17-year-old girl who was his travel companion. Gaetz denies the allegations.
In Florida’s 11th District incumbent Republican Rep. Daniel Webster defeated far-right activist Laura Loomer 50.7% to 44.5%.
In Oklahoma, the only other state holding elections Tuesday, Rep. Markwayne Mullin won a special runoff election to become the Republican nominee for the Senate seat now held by the retiring Jim Inhofe.
Mullin had Trump’s endorsement over former Oklahoma House Speaker T.W. Shannon, and will face former Rep. Kendra Horn, a Democrat, in November.
