You are reading

Polls for Council District 24 Special Election to Open on Time Tuesday Despite Snow

(Michael Appleton/ Mayoral Photography Office)

Feb. 1, 2021 By Allie Griffin

The special election for 24th City Council District in Queens will go on as planned Tuesday despite the massive snow storm bringing the city to a near halt.

“With thousands of New Yorkers having already cast their ballots during early voting, tomorrow’s special election in Queens is still on!” said Jose Bayona, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office. “Polls open at 6 a.m. and our plows are making extra rounds near polling sites tonight.”

The snowstorm has been wreaking havoc on the city just as one candidate received a major endorsement today and recent public filings reveal an influx of real estate money in the race.

Progressive activist Moumita Ahmed earned the backing of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders Monday for the 24th District seat, which covers Kew Gardens Hills, Fresh Meadows, Hillcrest, Pomonok, Jamaica Hills and Briarwood.

“I’m endorsing Moumita Ahmed because she understands that working class New Yorkers from diverse backgrounds built this city, and that we need leaders on the City Council who will always put them before the interests of the wealthy and the powerful,” Sanders said in a statement.

Ahmed — who volunteered for the Sanders campaign and has a tattoo of the Vermont senator’s face — said she was honored to have the senator’s endorsement.

We are so humbled and proud to have @BernieSanders join our working-class coalition as we battle the billionaire real estate developers trying to derail our campaign for housing justice,” she wrote on Twitter. “His support will definitely help us tomorrow as our organizers work to turn out immigrant voters — who have suffered so much during this pandemic — during this blizzard.”

In her tweet, Ahmed alluded to the mailers sent to District 24 homes attacking her. The ads were paid for by Common Sense NYC — a new independent expenditure committee that has taken a $1 million donation from billionaire real estate developer Stephen Ross.

Public filings reported over the past week show that Common Sense NYC has spent more than $206,000 on the special election.

The committee spent $81,817 on four mailers and one print ad attacking Ahmed, according to the NYC Campaign Finance Board.

The pamphlets denounce Ahmed’s progressive policies — such as her plan to cut the NYPD budget — and past tweets on the Israel Palestine conflict.

Meanwhile, Common Sense NYC also spent $107,326.51 on three mailers, three radio ads, two print ads, a phone call campaign and sweatshirts supporting candidate James Gennaro, who previously held the D-24 Council seat for three terms until 2013.

Common Sense NYC also paid $17,695 for a mailer supporting another candidate in the race, attorney and President of the Queens County Women’s Bar Association Soma Syed.

The winner of the nonpartisan special election will finish Lancman’s term that is set to end on Dec. 31, 2021. Lancman resigned from the City Council on Nov. 4 to take a position within Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration.

Other candidates in the running include small business owner and community organizer Deepti Sharma; New York’s first Indian-American female Democratic District Leader Neeta Jain; healthcare executive Dilip Nath, who previously ran for the seat; “conservative” Democrat Mujib Rahman and real estate broker Michael Earl Brown.

The special election is the first test of the city’s new ranked-choice voting ballot.

email the author: news@queenspost.com
No comments yet

Leave a Comment
Reply to this Comment

All comments are subject to moderation before being posted.

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Recent News

With US Open done, Kantu serves up winning brunch in Forest Hills

Sep. 9, 2025 By Claude Solnik

Brunch, or at least breakfast, is a fairly common offering across New York City restaurants. And these morning meals often follow basic rules and menus with fairly similar offerings such as eggs, traditional omelets and maybe a Mimosa. When it comes to good food and, in particular, brunches that depart from the usual, Kantu really can do.

Rego Park sex offender pleads guilty to charges of sexually exploiting young girls on Long Island: Feds

A convicted sex offender from Rego Park pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of a child and admitted to soliciting and receiving sexually explicit images and videos from four young girls during a plea hearing in the federal courthouse in Central Islip on Friday. Anthony Pangallo, 41, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years’ imprisonment and up to 50 years in prison.

According to court filings and statements during the plea proceeding, Pangallo was initially arrested on May 20, 2021, at his Rego Park residence, on state charges filed in Westport, Connecticut. Those charges, which remain pending, involved a 15-year-old victim whom Pangallo met online and manipulated into sending him sexually explicit images of herself.