by Shea Vance
AMNY: Virginia Maloney and Assemblymember Harvey Epstein (D-Manhattan) officially won their respective bids for the Democratic nominations for City Council after the New York City Board of Elections released ranked-choice voting tabulations at noon on Tuesday.
Epstein, who won the nomination for Manhattan District 2, and Maloney, who won Manhattan District 4, both ran in open primaries in the East Side districts with no incumbent opposition. After RCV, Epstein beat out his closest competition, Sarah Batchu, by 13.4 points in the final round of RCV. Epstein had led Batchu by almost 20 points in the first round.
Maloney grabbed the nomination for Manhattan District 4 after earning fewer than 400 more first-choice votes than her main competition, Vanessa Aronson. In the final round of RCV, Maloney beat Aronson by 6.4 points.
With RCV, voters may cast their ballots for up to five candidates in descending order of preference. To fully tabulate votes under RCV, the Board of Elections eliminates candidates each round who fail to earn enough votes to keep them in the running. More popular candidates accumulate votes from ballots that had them ranked after voters’ top-choice candidates are eliminated.
The fields for both nominations were hotly contested as both sitting city councilors—Carlina Rivera in District 2 and Keith Powers in District 4—were completing their final terms in office. Powers launched a bid for Manhattan Borough President in the 2025 Democratic primary but lost to State Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal.
Powers congratulated Maloney on her primary win in a Tuesday post on X.
“She is smart, talented, and ready to serve the great communities on the East Side,” Powers wrote. “I am confident District 4 is in good hands with Virginia leading the way.”
Maloney, a technology and public policy professional who worked in city technology initiatives under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, focused most of her campaign on public safety, government reform, and affordability, promising to reduce waste and “bring tech-sector oversight to the budget.” Maloney’s mother, former Rep. Carolyn Maloney, held the same seat in the early 1990s.
Epstein has represented State Assembly District 74, which covers parts of the Lower East Side, the East Village, and Midtown East, since 2018 and has pointed to his experience in Albany as key experience in the race.
The Assembly member seeks to tackle the housing crisis by building more affordable units in the city and converting underused commercial space into housing.
Tuesday’s final RCV tabulation included votes for all of New York City’s local primary elections, including the race for mayor. Final counts show Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens) handily beating former Governor Andrew Cuomo to the nomination by 12 points.
