Tuesday’s Democratic tidal wave has caused one incumbent Republican loss in New York City. City Councilman Anthony Como, one of three Republicans in the Council, was defeated by the Democratic candidate, Elizabeth S. Crowley, a developer of educational programs for nonprofit agencies.
That election in Queens was the only race for a Council seat yesterday. It followed a special election for the seat in June, after it was vacated by Dennis P. Gallagher. Earlier this year, Mr. Gallagher, who was elected in 2001, resigned after pleading guilty to two misdemeanors, admitting that he sexually abused a woman in his district office in Middle Village last summer while he was intoxicated.
Mr. Como is a former commissioner of the New York City Board of Elections and a former assistant district attorney in Queens. He was also a longtime aide to State Senator Serphin R. Maltese, a Republican.
In unofficial returns from the New York City Board of Elections, Ms. Crowley received 56 percent of the vote, with Mr. Como receiving about 44 percent.
Ms. Crowley is a cousin of United States Representative Joseph Crowley, who is also the Democratic Party chairman in Queens. She is also the daughter of Walter and Mary Crowley, each of whom once represented many of the same Queens neighborhoods in the City Council.
“I was cautiously optimistic going into this race, but now I’m feeling great,” Ms. Crowley said in an interview Wednesday afternoon.
“I seem to have gotten a strong vote in some of the traditionally conservative areas of the district, like Middle Village and Glendale, that supported McCain,” Ms. Crowley added. “So, it seems like they went to vote for McCain and switched over to vote for me. I’m really excited about this.”
Mr. Como could not be reached for comment this afternoon. No one answered the phones in either the councilman’s district office in Middle Village or his office near City Hall.
Ms. Crowley has sought to represent that Council district for some time. She was a candidate for the seat in 2001, losing to Mr. Gallagher. She ran again in the special nonpartisan election after Mr. Gallagher’s resignation in June of this year, losing to Mr. Como.
She narrowly lost that special election, she said, because there had been insufficient notice to voters about the race. “It came rather quickly after Dennis Gallagher resigned,” she said. “And a lot of people just didn’t know that the race was taking place. They didn’t get notified by the Board of Elections.”
But, with a presidential election at the top of the ticket, she said, it was hard for voters in the district not to know that an election was taking place.
“And for me,” she said, “it seems that the third time really is the charm.”
