City Council District 11: Election Update
The City Council Special Election for District 11 in The Bronx is officially over but there’s still a long road ahead. As of publication, Saturday, March 27th, a definitive winner has not yet been called because of the new rank choice voting system.
City Council District 11 is in the Northwest Bronx and includes Riverdale, Fieldston, Norwood, Bedford Park, Van Cortlandt Village, Woodlawn, and Wakefield. The district was represented by City Councilman Andrew Cohen who vacated his seat in Fall 2020 to accept a judgeship.
There were six candidates vying for the seat: Eric Dinowitz, son of Assemblyman Dinowitz; Mino Lora, a Dominican immigrant entrepreneur and businesswoman; Jessica Haller, a climate activist and tech entrepreneur; Dan Padernacht, an attorney who is involved in numerous community boards; Carlton Berkley, a former NYPD detective and small business owner; and Kevin Pazmino, a first generation American.
Tuesday’s Special Election was the first implementation of rank choice voting in which up to five candidates can be ranked from 1st to 5th place. If no winner is clear as receiving over 50% of the 1st place vote, then a lengthy process of elimination begins.
Even without official results, the preliminary results released by the New York City Board of Elections show Eric Dinowitz, son of current district Assemblyman Andrew Dinowitz, in the lead with 42% of confirmed votes. Mino Lora is a strong second place contender with an estimated 25% of votes and Jessica Haller rounds out the top three with roughly 15% of votes.
As of publication an estimated 96% of votes have been scanned. Although most votes have been scanned, ballots will be manually checked through the elimination process as rank choice voting continues. The NYC Campaign Finance Board, in a statement to Norwood News, estimated it will take up to two weeks to have a definitive victor.
Mino Lora and Jessica Haller, the only women on the ticket, had very different campaign messages but encouraged voters to rank them in the first and second positions. This would ensure that their votes would be consolidated for one candidate in the event neither received 50% of first place votes.
The remaining three candidates – Dan Padernacht, Carlton Berkley, and Kevin Pazmino – received collectively less than 18% of the votes.
Dinowitz, Lora, and Haller have no yet claimed victory on their social media pages and are encouraging patience as the final, official results come in. The Dinowitz campaign seemed optimistic in a tweet released election night.
This article will be updated when election results are confirmed. Learn more about the City Council District 11 seat at the New York Campaign Finance Board or on the City Council Website.
