Manhattan Election Roundup

Yesterday, there was a big Republican "wave" election.  You undoubtedly know that the Republicans took control of the U.S. Senate, made gains in the House, and took many governorships, even in very "blue" states like Massachusetts, Illinois and Maryland.  Here in New York, you may also know that the Republicans took control of the New York State Senate, which is something of an accomplishment in this very blue state.  

But I'll bet the question at the top of all of your minds is, how did the Republicans do in Manhattan?  I know I teased your curiosity about this subject with an article two weeks ago titled "Can A Republican Win A Political Office In Manhattan?"  If you read that article, you know that going into the election every single elected official at any level whose district covers any part of Manhattan was a Democrat.  Well, rest easy:  that has not changed.  But what's even more remarkable is how, even in this year where Republicans were cleaning up literally everywhere else, their existence is barely noticed here in Manhattan.  So I've put together a little compilation of the election results to show you just how lopsided this is.  The data come from the New York State Board of Elections.  When districts overlap into parts of Brooklyn and Queens, I've included just the data for the Manhattan part of the district.

U.S. Congress

District 7 (Lower East Side): Dem 78%; Rep 9.5%; Con 2%; Blank 10.4% (Blank beat the Republican!)

District 10 (my district): Dem 85%; Con 8%; Blank 7% (No Republican candidate!)

District 12 (East Side): Dem 76%; Rep 21%; Blank 3% (Good showing!)

District 13 (Uptown/Harlem): Dem 75%; Green 11%; Blank 14% (No Rep or Con candidate!)

State Senate

District 26 (Downtown): Dem 79%; Rep 14%; Blank 7% (Republican beats blank!)

District 27 (my district): Dem 80%; Rep 13%; Blank 6% (We had a Republican candidate!)

District 28 (East Side): Dem 72%; Rep 26%; Blank 3% (Good showing!)

District 29 (Spanish Harlem): Dem 78%; Rep 15%; Blank 8% (In Bronx portion, Rep got 4%)

District 30 (Harlem): Dem 88%; Rep 4%; Blank 8% (Once again, blank beats Rep!)

District 31 (Uptown): Dem 76%; Blank 23% (No Republican challenger!)

State Assembly:

District 65 (Lower East): Dem 76%; Rep 16%; Blank 7% (Not bad against the Speaker!)

District 66 (my district!): Dem 75%; Rep 12%; Progressive 7% (Rep beat Progressive!)

District 74 (Midtown East): Dem 79%; Rep 14%; Blank 7%

District 73 (Upper East): Dem 65%; Rep 29%; Blank 4%

District 75 (Midtown West): Dem 82%; Rep 13%; Blank 5%

District 67 (Upper West): Dem 85%; Blank 14% (No Republican candidate!)

District 69 (Upper West): Dem 79%; Blank 20% (No Republican candidate!)

District 68 (East Harlem): Dem 83%; Rep 8%; Blank 9% (Blank beats Republican again!)

District 70 (Central Harlem): Dem 88%; Rep 3%; Blank 8% (Blank beats Rep again!)

District 71 (Far Uptown): Dem 80%; Rep 6%; Blank 14% (Blank beats Rep yet again!)

District 72 (Even Farther Uptown): Dem 76%; Rep 7%; Blank 17% (See a pattern?)

District 76 (Way Upper East): Dem 65%; Rep 32%; Blank 3%

You can see that I saved the best for last.  The 76th Assembly District is the one I wrote up in that article two weeks ago asking if it was possible for a Republican to win any office in Manhattan.  That district covers some of the area where a Republican last held office on this island, over a decade ago.  The candidate, David Garland, was excellent, and the Democratic opponent was completely inexperienced and uninformed on the issues.  Well, Garland did break 30%, the only Republican in Manhattan to do that this year.

To summarize the rest of this embarrassing list, of 22 total races, the Republicans ran no candidate in five; in six others "blank" (meaning, the voter did not vote in this race) beat the Republican candidate.  Those 11 races are fully half the total.  Only one Republican in any race (Garland) broke 30%, and only three others broke 20%.  All of those were on the East Side.  On the West Side and Downtown, Republicans generally ran in the teens; in Harlem and far Uptown, under 10%.

Here's the message of Manhattan to Republicans: You may hold the majority of both houses of Congress, the large majority of the governorships and state legislatures, but here in Manhattan we find you so creepy that even if we can't stand our Democratic candidate we would rather leave our ballot blank than vote for you.   After all, we're a lot smarter and cooler than you are.  So smart and cool, in fact, that we don't even notice that we have the highest taxes and the biggest collection of progressive programs of any place in the country and all that we have to show for it is poverty way above the national average and the highest income inequality anywhere!