Shirley Huntley

The race for the City Council seat in Queens that Leroy Comrie is vacating because of term limits in 2009 is turning contentious unusually early.

Running for the seat are Ruben Wills, executive chief of staff to Democratic state Senator Shirley Huntley, Brian Simon, chief of staff to Representative Greg Meeks, and Democratic operative Joan Flowers.  read more »

Three days into the new administration, the Empire State Pride Agenda released its ranking of state lawmakers and their positions on gay marriage.

The ranking shows some recent movement towards the pro- side in the Assembly, with a total 47 members who have now at least "indicated support", up from 35 when the group put out their last scorecard on September 15. In the Senate, the number went to 16 from 14.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, Bronx Democratic chairman Jose Rivera and newly elected Brooklyn Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries are in the "position unknown or unclear" category.

And the apparent level of overall support in the Senate appears to have increased despite the fact that two pro-gay marriage Senators, Republican Nick Spano and Democrat Ada Smith, were replaced this year by Democratic freshmen who are also in the "unknown" column: Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Shirley Huntley.

Incidentally, ESPA spokesman Joe Tarver emailed to say that the group is pretty happy with how Eliot Spitzer addressed the issue in his speech yesterday, even though, as noted earlier, the new governor didn't mention it at all.

From the email:

"Governor Spitzer has been very public about his support for marriage for same-sex couples. He has also said marriage for our families will become law in New York State and that he will introduce a program bill aimed at accomplishing this. We fully expect that he will follow through on his promises. We will let his actions do the talking on marriage and on the other issues that are important to our community."

-- Azi Paybarah

Yesterday, City Councilman Hiram Monserrate sent word that "66 votes separate" him from state Senator John Sabini in the Democratic primary for the 13th Senate district. That's "down from 208...rather than 208 votes as reported by the Board of Elections," Monserrate said.

Sabini's people responded a few hours later saying, "Sabini's lead grows to 248...Victory is nearly official."

Here is what the Board of Elections is reporting, as of 5:30 yesterday:

6,264 total votes for Sabini 6,120 from voting machines 32 emergency affidavits 112 paper ballots 6,017 total votes for Monserrate 5,943 from voting machines 22 emergency affidavits 52 paper ballots

Paper ballots are still being counted and results are unofficial until the Board of Election commissioners certify them.

In another close race, Shirley Huntley leads the outspoken state Senator Ada Smith. Paper ballots have not been counted yet. Here are the numbers so far:

6,333 total votes for Huntley 6.296 from voting machines 37 emergency affidavits 6,036 total votes for Smith 6,006 from voting machines 30 emergency affidavits -- Azi Paybarah

For those of you still craving primary election drama, there are still a handful of elections that are at least technically undecided, where the margins of victory are smaller than the number of paper ballots still to be counted.

Party favorite Alec Brook-Krasny beat Ari Kagan in Brooklyn's 64th Assembly District by 94 votes. I'm told there are about 600 paper ballots which are being opened sometime today.

Party albatross Ada Smith lost to challenger Shirley Huntley by 197 votes in Queens 10th senate district in which, I've heard, there are still 209 paper ballots to open.

Party favorite John Sabini held off a challenge from City Councilman Hiram Monserrate in Queens 13th senate district by 208 votes. Monserrate refused to concede and they're going through a recount.

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver's candidate, David Cohen, lost to Margaret Chan in Manhattan Civil Court District 2 by 49 votes. As someone in the comments section said, that race, too, looks like it will be "going to paper."

-- Azi Paybarah

In Queens, incumbet state Senator Ada Smith is trailng challenger Shirley Huntley by 197 votes with 209 unopened absentee ballots to be counted, a source with knowledge of the race said.