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James Gennaro Sworn in as District 24 Council Member After BOE Certifies Special Election Results

James Gennaro (Twitter)

Feb. 19, 2021 By Allie Griffin

Former Council Member James Gennaro has officially taken his District 24 seat back— at least until the end of the year.

Gennaro was sworn in yesterday after the NYC Board of Elections certified the Feb. 2 special election results earlier the same day. He takes back the seat that he occupied from 2001 to 2013, when he was forced to step down due to term limits.

The district covers the central Queens neighborhoods of Kew Gardens Hills, Briarwood, Jamaica Estates, Jamaica, Pomonok and Hillcrest, among others. 

The special election — prompted by the departure of Council Member Rory Lancman — was the city’s first test run of ranked choice voting, in which voters ranked candidates from one through five in order of preference.

Gennaro secured about 60 percent of the voters’ first-choice picks or 4,078 votes, according to the certified results. A candidate must win more than 50 percent of the first-choice votes to be declared winner.

Moumita Ahmed, who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders, came in second place in the eight-person race. She earned just 15 percent of the vote — 1,041 votes — well behind Gennaro.

Gennaro 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.

A June primary and November general election will determine who will hold the seat for a full term.

email the author: news@queenspost.com

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