NY Election Results: Jumaane Williams Wins Re-Election, Melinda Katz Is New Queens DA, Diederich Loses In Rockland

NEW YORK (VosIzNeias) — Polls closed at 9 PM for Tuesday’s elections in NYC, and the results are coming in.

According to the Associated Press, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has won re-election by capturing 73% of the vote. His Republican opponent Joe Borelli received 25%. Williams originally won the post in a special election that took place in February, after Letitia James became State Attorney General.

In Queens, Borough President Melinda Katz won the election to become District Attorney, defeating her Republican opponent Joe Murray.

Katz spoke to her supporters Tuesday night, expressig her interest in creating nation-wide criminal justice reform.

“We are facing here an opportunity to make a national model for criminal justice reform, and if we don’t do it right here, it’s going to have massive effects all throughout this country,” she said.

In the race for Rockland County District Attorney, Thomas Walsh beat his opponent Mike Diederich, Jr., 37,005 to 14,688. Throughout the election, Diederich was perceived by many to be a threat to the ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Rockland County. He was quoted as referring to the biggest problem facing Rockland County as “public corruption resulting in a panoply of problems including, especially in Ramapo, disregard for housing and fire codes, disregard for the NYS Education Law (hurting public and private school children), and systemic abuse of welfare and Medicaid entitlement programs, all of which I intend to address if elected DA.” Walsh on the other hand said that the opioid crisis was the county’s biggest issue.