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UWS’s Biggest Election Surprise: Turnout Was Down

November 9, 2022 | 9:19 AM - Updated on November 10, 2022 | 1:51 AM
in NEWS, POLITICS
44

By WSR Editorial Staff

With all the talk about the end of democracy, you would think that turnout for Tuesday’s midterm elections would have set records, especially on the Upper West Side, known for its political activism. In fact, turnout was down in the neighborhood from the 2018 midterms, according to THE CITY. In 2018, 64% of active registered Upper West Side voters voted, whereas in 2022, 56% of active registered voters did. The neighborhood still outperformed the city, though, which recorded just a 36% turnout, down from 47% in the last midterms in 2018.

Photo credit: Marc A. Hermann / MTA.

So who did UWSers choose to lead the state? The overwhelming majority — ranging from around 70% to nearly 90% (in Manhattan Valley) — voted to keep Democrat Kathy Hochul in the governor’s job, THE CITY reported, based on data from the city’s Board of Elections. Hochul easily won citywide, too, over Republican Lee Zeldin, but her statewide margin – a little under 53% of the vote, was significantly narrower, with Zeldin stronger both upstate and on Long Island.

No surprises here: Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler tromped his two opponents with 82% of the vote to return to the House where he has served since 1992. The real contest for Nadler came in the Democratic primary, when redistricting forced a race between him and his longtime colleague Carolyn Maloney, who now will leave the House at the end of this year. And Chuck Schumer won nearly 56% of the vote to continue in the Senate and as Democratic Party leader there – though whether he will be majority or minority leader remains to be seen, as the balance of power in the Senate comes down to who wins a handful of tight races yet to be called in other states.

Also no surprise: In other statewide races, Democrats Letitia James and Thomas DiNapoli were returned to their jobs as attorney general and state comptroller.

And despite a second effort by Maria Danzilo, running as an independent in the general election, Democratic State Sen. Brad Hoylman, easily kept his seat with 93.3% of the vote, as did Sen. Robert Jackson (85%) and Assemblymember Danny O’Donnell (90%). Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal was returned to Albany unopposed.

And each of the four questions on the New York City ballot passed.

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Leon
Leon
4 months ago

I’m glad people came to their senses and supported Hochul and saw through Zeldin. But hopefully this will be a message to her to stay in the middle and address the issues that are clearly important to New Yorkers.

I think a huge percentage of Danzilo voters are also on WSR. I was a big fan and I’m sorry she lost. Hopefully she can find another way to contribute.

I am amazed that the ballot referendums passed by such large margins. Who is going to pay for these mandates? I would rather my money go towards teachers, nurses, affordable housing, or a lot of other things than this. Because money doesn’t grow on trees and the city has a very tight budget. And no, taxing the rich is not going to solve that problem – we have to make choices and these did not seem like good ones. Plus the Republicans are going to have a field day with these examples of wokeness.

21
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Kenny
Kenny
4 months ago
Reply to  Leon

#2 IIRC was only some words…. How expensive can that be?

0
Reply
UWS-SJ
UWS-SJ
4 months ago
Reply to  Leon

Voting for someone who isn’t in the middle or governing from the middle is not an encouragement for them to do so

3
Reply
Donna
Donna
4 months ago

Many, myself included, voted by mail.

10
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Huh
Huh
4 months ago
Reply to  Donna

Absentee ballots are still counted in your home district

0
Reply
Sheila
Sheila
4 months ago
Reply to  Donna

Me too.

0
Reply
Paul
Paul
4 months ago

Look at the Times data county by county. Turnout was abysmal in the City. More people voted in Suffolk and Nassau (population 1.4 million each) than in Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx, all of which have higher populations. Brooklyn, with 1 million more people than Suffolk, had 5,000 more voters.

0
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EdNY
EdNY
4 months ago
Reply to  Paul

Mail-in voting would have been much greater this year than in 2018. Need those numbers.

1
Reply
J.Lib
J.Lib
4 months ago

Don’t forget more mail-in voting in 2022 compare to 2018. so take with a grain of salt

12
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UWS Dad
UWS Dad
4 months ago

Love to see Hochul carry the UWS by massive margins! Goes to show all the fear mongering in the WSR comments section isn’t representative of our neighborhood.

24
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good humor
good humor
4 months ago

Good. It is settled. We are happy with where we are at, and with the Democratic party.

5
Reply
MJB
MJB
4 months ago

I’m surprised and upset about Maria Danzilo winning so few votes.

9
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Che_junglecat
Che_junglecat
4 months ago
Reply to  MJB

She isn’t surprised at all, according to the first of her tweets today.

She got her foot in the door with an excelsior attitude to go along with it., That’s promising.

2
Reply
Katherine
Katherine
4 months ago

I held my nose and voted Democrat down the ticket because I can’t stand the idea of Republican anti-choice 2020 election deniers holding any kind of office. I did vote for Danzilo though.

13
Reply
Cato
Cato
4 months ago
Reply to  Katherine

Same here. The Democratic Party needs to see this feeble turnout as a wake-up call. I suspect that (as with Katherine and me) many people voted anti-Republican rather than pro-Democratic — and probably that many other people were so conflicted about the dismal choices on both sides that they couldn’t even be bothered to “hold their noses” to do that.

The Democrats need to think seriously about offering candidates who better reflect the sentiments and concerns of the majority of their voters — especially those who stayed away from the polls yesterday altogether. That’s how to draw voters back to the ballot box. We all know that there is an important election coming up in just two years and, as we saw here yesterday, there is only so much “anti” sentiment the Democrats can count on. We learned yesterday that the Democrats cannot take votes, or voters, for granted, even in what historically has been a Democratic community.

Please don’t make us hold our noses to vote for you.

10
Reply
Phil
Phil
4 months ago
Reply to  Cato

As far as the turnout…
Don’t forget that 432,000 people voted early

1
Reply
Brandon
Brandon
4 months ago
Reply to  Cato

Only on West Side Rag could the anti-Hochul, anti-Hoylman contingent see their preferred candidates lose and still read the election results as some kind of vindication.

8
Reply
Carlo
Carlo
4 months ago
Reply to  Cato

I am very curious to see what Hochul does. She has only been in office a year. Her campaign was disjointed and all over the place, but at heart I think/hope that she is pretty moderate. She has made some admittedly limited attempts to revise the bail laws and deal with crime. She hasn’t had a lot of time to deal with other issues.

Zeldin and his team ran circles around her in terms of messaging and getting attention. They wisely recognized that it was best to portray her as beholden to the extreme left, so that is all we heard recently. But I don’t know if that is really the case. Hopefully she will get the message and lead from the middle.

My bigger concern is whether the legislature will allow her to do this. And also whether macroeconomic issues beyond her control impact outcomes.

5
Reply
UWS2
UWS2
4 months ago

Zeldin’s 47.4% vote is stunning though. Unfortunately, that also means nearly half of the people’s needs aren’t going to be addressed by Holchul.

12
Reply
Phoebe
Phoebe
4 months ago
Reply to  UWS2

No, I hope it means that she will take a hint!

0
Reply
UpperWest Side Dad
UpperWest Side Dad
4 months ago
Reply to  UWS2

Zeldin’s percentage of the vote is pretty stunning. I did not expect him to win, but for some reason, I thought the margin of difference was going to be larger.

I did a quick look back in recent past to see if any Republican candidate had as high a percentage of the vote. Gov. Pataki garnered roughly 49% of the vote in 2002 (he was reelected). Rob Astorino had 40% of the vote in 2014 when he was defeated by Andrew Cuomo. A quick look at the election maps from 2006 through yesterday does show a trend of the increased Republican vote in counties across NYS.

2
Reply
Peter
Peter
4 months ago
Reply to  UpperWest Side Dad

Stunning? Not to me, based on a quick survey of my own circle and my own vote. I’ve never split my ballot before. It was a protest vote against the dismissive,, condescending and complacent attitude by current Democratic leadership toward many serious issues we face. A lot of the same attitude was displayed here in this forum by name calling, etc.

Hopefully, the results provide the wake up call for the necessary course correction.

12
Reply
UWS-SJ
UWS-SJ
4 months ago
Reply to  Peter

Winning is not a wake up call. No wonder the party leaders rule without regard.

4
Reply
Peter
Peter
4 months ago
Reply to  UWS-SJ

If they’re as smart and competent as they’d like to have us believe, they’d see the trend we’re seeing – narrowest winning margin in decades – react. But yes, more of a hope than anything else…

0
Reply
Terence
Terence
4 months ago

Voter turnout on UWS ranged from close to 70% to less than 25%.

For registered voters who did not choose to exercise their right to vote, may I ask why?

This link shows turnout by Election District and Assembly District:

https://projects.thecity.nyc/zeldin-hochul-election-voter-turnout-nyc/

4
Reply
Old Westsider
Old Westsider
4 months ago

And only 56% of us bothered to vote. But, of course, every one of us has several opinions about each and every political situation. Just pathetic that on the Upper West Side, almost half of us didn’t seem to care.

Democracy dies when people don’t care enough to vote.

23
Reply
Lyriclark
Lyriclark
4 months ago
Reply to  Old Westsider

Hi Old Westsider, I voted out of guilt by mail at the last minute. I look around the UWS and I see the dirty streets, homeless wandering or just laying on the sidewalk, the piles of garbage in rusty cans on Broadway etc. What am I voting for? Not this. Ms. Rosenthal, as lovely as she is, claims to wonder where the rodents are coming from. She takes a walking tour? Just look at 74-75th on Broadway. Can Recycling machines on Broadway? Piles of empty pallets Fairway is too lazy to bring inside, Cars blocking the curb from Insta cart like some 3rd world village….keep walking Linda check out the block of 70th …WHY DID I VOTE?

5
Reply
Jay
Jay
4 months ago

The line was longer than normal for voting at noon on election for a midterm.

2
Reply
kay kray
kay kray
4 months ago

Because tons of people who were planning to vote election day have covid. Wear a mask.

1
Reply
UWS Concerned.
UWS Concerned.
4 months ago

1. Do you think the Dem politicians really WANT voters to vote? Or just the Dems they can count on? We assume they are motivated to represent the views of the residents but are they really? We keep complaining abt things but they win anyway? Some even run unopposed.

2. Maybe a sizable portion of residents who are eligible to vote in NYC actually have other residences and spend time there? Maybe they even vote there? Maybe this is part of the changing demographics?

10
Reply
Pedestrian
Pedestrian
4 months ago
Reply to  UWS Concerned.

Of course Democrats want people to vote! You are thinking of Republicans who sent out people to intimidate voters or purge voting lists. There is a lot of projection going on in this thread.

3
Reply
Huh
Huh
4 months ago
Reply to  UWS Concerned.

You can’t be eligible to vote in two places. The numbers count people who are registered here. If they haven’t been living here in a while and didn’t opt to vote absentee, well that’s possible.

0
Reply
Ronnie
Ronnie
4 months ago

Hochul survived by pivoting at the last moment and saying she’d be tough on crime. Now let’s see if she keeps her word!

5
Reply
Bob
Bob
4 months ago
Reply to  Ronnie

Don’t play the same game the Republicans do. Crime is a local issue and depends on what local politicians do. Address your concerns to the Mayor.

0
Reply
Phoebe
Phoebe
4 months ago
Reply to  Bob

‘Ya know what? You have a good point!

0
Reply
Christina
Christina
4 months ago

Well there was early voting so I’m sure a lot people took advantage of that rather than voting on Election Day.

0
Reply
Proud Westsider
Proud Westsider
4 months ago

About the lower than expected voter turnout yesterday: A very wise person once told me one should GET OUT THERE AND VOTE, OR LOSE THE RIGHT TO COMPLAIN!!!

5
Reply
Frustrated UWS
Frustrated UWS
4 months ago

If you think ANYTHING will improve now that the EXACT SAME PEOPLE kept their present positions – welcome to our deteriorating pathetic unsafe city to stay as is.

So anyone upset with the state of the city regarding homelessness, crime, public safety & quality of life plan to have more of the same for the next 2 years at the very least.

Nice going.

7
Reply
LAWRENCE BRAVERMAN
LAWRENCE BRAVERMAN
4 months ago

Random thought of a frustrated & occasionally solipsistic voter:

Well I voted (I’m sure security cameras followed my every move, as if I was either celebrity or criminal, or living downtrodden in China).

There I am in multiple cheap cameras, doing my damnedest to put Maria over the top and I’ll add that your use of the term “easily” delivered quite the sting… I smart even now while recalling it: ”

“(Hoylman) easily kept his seat”

Harrumph: after reading that I almost wish I’d stayed home, warming mine.

But I did NOT vote for the 4 questions (which I myself used to ask yearly until my brother took over)… mostly because I forgot to turn over the sheet (oops!)

And I’ll just add that I did NOT vote for Jerrold Nadler, because his congressional office is an impregnable fortress which wouldn’t help me or even respond to my repeated written requests (“help!”) & all because the Federal Powers That Be (the PO) insists on continuing to ignore my pleas to forward all my mail to my new address.

Take THAT, Jerrold!

Perhaps all politics is not only local, but personal too!

(I saw Jerrold a few weeks ago on 70th street speaking quietly to an intimate (from the looks of it) and was going to approach, interrupting him with the news that he’d lost my vote… but kept walking; thinking that even politicians get to have a life…

except for trump; I would’ve interrupted him in a New York minute (and probably would’ve been tossed on my head by a phalanx of his Praetorian Guard… probably ex cops who’d been strongly advised to retire early)

I’m glad to report that Jerrold had no such professional protection surrounding him from such as myself, nor did he need any.

1
Reply
Ian Alterman
Ian Alterman
4 months ago
Reply to  LAWRENCE BRAVERMAN

Actually, you may simply not have noticed the two Secret Service agents that are ALWAYS with Jerry. After all, he is in the top 5 of death threats to Congressional leaders, along with Pelosi, AOC, Schiff, and one other.

0
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sally
sally
4 months ago

Zeldin is an example of falling for media messaging. He picked crime and went hard and yes, it’s an issue, but no mention of his many anti-human rights views. He only rose dramatically in the polls after Ronald lauder poured $$ into advertising. I’m taking a pause on buying anything Clinique.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/06/nyregion/ronald-lauder-zeldin-governor.html

7
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Jane
Jane
4 months ago

Not where I worked the polls, was turnout down! I didn’t have a moment to read one page of a book all morning, day or evening. I’ve never experienced such a busy day doing this job before. Im not sure if it made the time seem to pass more quickly—it was hard work!

2
Reply
LAWRENCE BRAVERMAN
LAWRENCE BRAVERMAN
4 months ago
Reply to  Jane

Jane; thank you for helping to make democracy work as well as it does; we’re all of us in your debt as you provide an essential service for this community and the nation as a whole. -L.

0
Reply
Ian Alterman
Ian Alterman
4 months ago

Do these statistics include only day-off voting, or also early voting? Given what I saw during early voting in Manhattan, I find it hard to believe that the percentage was that low.

0
Reply

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