The candidate backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani in a contentious City Council race in Manhattan conceded late Tuesday night to Carl Wilson, a community activist and legislative aide who had the support of many prominent Democrats.
The race could not be officially called until next week because no candidate secured more than 50 percent of the vote, the New York City Board of Elections said. But Lindsey Boylan, the candidate Mr. Mamdani endorsed, called Mr. Wilson to concede, and a statement from her campaign said “the results are conclusive.”
Mr. Mamdani congratulated Mr. Wilson, 35, late Tuesday “on a hard-fought victory.”
“I look forward to working with Council Member-elect Wilson to deliver for New Yorkers on the West Side: affordable housing, universal child care, and a city budget that puts working people first,” said Mr. Mamdani.
He also praised Ms. Boylan, 42, who he said had run “a tough race and put forward a real vision for a more affordable New York.”
Preliminary results showed that with 99 percent of votes counted, Mr. Wilson appeared to hold a significant lead over Ms. Boylan, of roughly 43 percent to 26 percent. They were trailed by two other candidates, Layla Law-Gisiko, with roughly 20 percent, and Leslie Boghosian Murphy with roughly 11 percent.
Mr. Wilson declared victory, saying in a statement: “While we are waiting to count every vote, the numbers tonight are clear.”
He said voters had “backed our message of affordability, compassion, and fighting for what matters in our community, and shown that local voices and neighborhood leadership still matter most.”
Mr. Wilson, a longtime activist in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, had been endorsed by an array of establishment Democrats in Manhattan and said he planned to join the Council’s progressive caucus if elected. Ms. Boylan, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, had run as a stalwart supporter of the mayor at a time when he needs allies on the Council.
The race, a special election to represent a swath of Manhattan’s West Side, drew a flood of outside spending, almost entirely on behalf of Mr. Wilson. It was widely viewed as a proxy conflict between the mayor and the Council speaker, Julie Menin, a moderate Democrat who endorsed Mr. Wilson.
She has clashed with Mr. Mamdani on a range of issues, including the budget and a bill he vetoed last week that dealt with security at protests held near educational facilities.
But Mr. Wilson’s apparent victory does not mean that conflict is over. In fact, it may continue in the weeks ahead, as the two candidates are both on the ballot for a Democratic primary in June.
The contest on Tuesday in the city’s Third District was held to determine who would complete the term of Erik Bottcher, who vacated the seat when he was elected to the State Senate earlier this year.
That term runs through December. The winner of the June primary will have the chance to be elected this November to a longer term, lasting through 2029.
The special election was held using ranked-choice voting, a system under which voters are able to select multiple candidates in order of preference. The Board of Elections said the final tally of ranked-choice votes would not be completed until May 5.
The Third District includes a stretch of Manhattan’s West Side from Hell’s Kitchen to Greenwich Village. A high-profile district that has produced two City Council speakers in the last 20 years, it contains major transportation hubs, real estate developments, public housing and a large population of engaged voters.
It is also a center of L.G.B.T.Q. community life in the city and has been represented on the Council by a gay person since 1991. Mr. Wilson’s victory means that streak will continue for at least the next several months.
In addition to Ms. Menin, Mr. Wilson received the backing of many local political clubs, labor unions and Democratic officials, including Representative Jerrold Nadler; Comptroller Mark Levine; Brad Hoylman-Sigal, the Manhattan borough president; and Mr. Bottcher, for whom Mr. Wilson served as chief of staff.
Mr. Wilson also received the support of deep-pocketed outside groups headed by influential Democrats, including Greg Goldner, an ally of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo who managed Mr. Cuomo’s mayoral campaign against Mr. Mamdani.
According to the New York City Campaign Finance Board, outside groups spent more than $450,000 to support Mr. Wilson’s candidacy. Ms. Boylan received just $25,000 in outside funding, from a single group, a Working Families Party political action committee.
In recent weeks, Ms. Menin made several campaign appearances with Mr. Wilson, who also held events like a rally and march at which drag queens urged pedestrians on Ninth Avenue to vote. Mr. Mamdani, for his part, appeared on the campaign trail in support of Ms. Boylan.
Ms. Boylan in 2020 became the first woman to accuse Mr. Cuomo of sexual harassment. Mr. Cuomo denied her allegations and those from nearly a dozen other women, but they nevertheless led to his resignation as governor the following year.
Mr. Cuomo sought to return to public life last year with a mayoral bid that turned into a bitter, monthslong fight with Mr. Mamdani. The mayor’s decision to endorse Mr. Cuomo’s most high-profile accuser suggested some lingering animosity between the two men.
Ms. Boylan was an enthusiastic backer of Mr. Mamdani, a democratic socialist, in the mayoral race, and she joined the Democratic Socialists of America after he won the Democratic primary last June. She previously ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2020 and for Manhattan borough president in 2021.
Mr. Mamdani endorsed Ms. Boylan earlier this month, days before the start of early voting in the Council race. Ms. Boylan was also endorsed by many of the mayor’s political allies, including Brad Lander, the former city comptroller who is running to represent parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn in Congress.
The mayor could use more allies on the City Council, where Ms. Menin has seriously considered whipping votes to override Mr. Mamdani’s veto of the protest bill, according to two people familiar with her plans. Mr. Mamdani cited free speech concerns when he vetoed the bill last week.
The bill had passed four votes short of a veto-proof majority. Ms. Boylan has said she supports the mayor’s veto. Mr. Wilson had said he would vote to override the mayor, but on Tuesday a spokesman for his campaign said he had changed his position and instead wanted to see the bill amended to address the concerns of free speech advocates.
Mr. Mamdani’s endorsement also injected questions of ideology and identity into the City Council race.
If Ms. Boylan had been elected, she would have been the first straight person since 1991 to represent the district, which includes a large L.G.B.T.Q. population and many sites and institutions that are important to the community and its history. That prospect had upset some gay activists and voters who disliked the idea of ending a nearly four-decade streak of gay representation.
Liam Stack is a Times reporter who covers the culture and politics of the New York City region.
The post Mamdani’s Candidate Concedes in High-Profile Council Race in Manhattan appeared first on New York Times.
