New York, NY – Two-term Brooklyn Councilmember David Yassky (D-Brooklyn Heights, Williamsburg) lost in a Democratic primary run-off to his Queens colleague Councilmember John Liu (D-Flushing), ending his bid to be the city’s next Comptroller.
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“John Liu earned a well-deserved victory and I’m sure he will be a terrific Comptroller for the city of New York,” said Yassky, surrounded by his family, to a crowd of over one hundred friends and supporters at his Manhattan post-campaign party. “There is still a vision of government that I believe in deeply, that you all believe in deeply, and truly tens of thousands of New Yorkers share and that vision has animated all of you tonight.”
Liu received 55.68 percent of the vote (127,173 votes) to Yassky’s 44.32 percent, (101,215). The numbers for both candidates were actually about 7,000 votes less than they received two weeks ago, during the Democratic primary. Yassky survived the four-way primary, finishing with 30.5 percent of the vote, to Liu’s 38.02 percent, forcing a runoff, after candidates Queens Councilmembers Melinda Katz and David Weprin were defeated.
“The campaign ends tonight but the work that we have to do continues, and I hope all of you continue to do that work,” said Yassky.
The race to succeed City Comptroller William Thompson, who is leaving his seat to oppose Mayor Bloomberg’s reelection bid, has been one of the most expensive Comptroller campaigns in city history, with both Yassky and Liu spending over $4 million for the opportunity to run the city’s pension funds.
Many Yassky supporters say that the Comptroller race was won on the ground, giving credit to Liu’s support among the Working Families Party and union workers throughout the city. Evan Thies, a former staff member and Council candidate who lost his own bid to succeed Yassky in the City Council’s 33rd District, has been volunteering with the Yassky campaign since he lost two weeks ago.
“He ran a really good race and I hope for all our sakes, he stays in public life in some capacity. All of us are better off if David Yassky is in elected office,” said Thies.
Rabbi David Niederman, Executive Director of the UJO, and a long-time backer of Yassky, agreed, saying, “David is a great public servant. He is not going away. He’s coming back stronger.”
Liu, the first Asian-American elected to citywide office, will face Republican Joe Mendola in the general election.
Everyone I know who personally met David Yassky became a fan, it doesn’t surprise me a bit that he’s handling this loss with grace. Hopefully something worth his talents will come up soon.
Yassky, a rare mentsch
Such a good man to lose; but he is young and smart and will have a future
Councilman Yassky,
The Jewish community thanks you and thanks your staff for representing the community. We wish you all the best on your future endeavors and hope to see him in public office soon.
regarding the costs of the campaign, namely the claim in the article that “…has been one of the most expensive Comptroller campaigns in city history, with both Yassky and Liu spending over $4 million for the opportunity to run the city’s pension funds.”
Ummmmm…. let us please not forget that the $4 million wasn’t theirs, and wasn’t even the amount contributed by their fan clubs. The NYC Campaign Finance Board “matches” the candidates’ collections. Quoting from their website:
“Contributions from individual NYC residents are eligible to be matched at a $6-to-$1 rate”.
So only $575,000 or so (not too shabby a figure, but it ain’t $4 million…) was from the candidates and their supporters, and a mind boggling $3.4 million was, yep, tax money.
the shame in this race is that the oilam dose not take any elections serious .it would have been easy as a pickel to elect councilman yasky for comtroler if all the jewish voters would have gone out in the thousands to vote . the mosdos hatorah remeber very well how he fought the city when they wanted to make new regulations for the all mosdos hatorah and if not for our freind yasky who fought against it, it would have been a disaster .
again we dont take voting serious . a big shame
may all the democrats fall. its too bad that frummies support democrats for the programs etc, but in the long run democrats will run this country down the drain… socialism and communism isnt far around the corner, and then we all suffer together r”l
David will still run for some serious position, and will win be”h, in fact many Jews went out voting for him at election day, but Liu mobilized an unbelievable unexpected mass of Asians to bring him in. good luck to Liu for his new position, and good luck to Yassky to his – eventually – new position to come.