Yuh-Line Niou Routs Her Five Rivals For Silver's Assembly Seat

Yuh-Line Niou campaigns last month in her bid to win the Assembly seat vacated by Sheldon Silver, who held it for nearly 40 years. Photo: Yuh-Line Niou Facebook page

 

 

Yuh-Line Niou handily defeated her five primary election opponents vying for Sheldon Silver’s long-held seat in the 65th New York state Assembly District. Garnering nearly 32 percent of the vote on Tuesday, Niou (pronounced NEE-oh) will go into the November general election as the overwhelming favorite in this heavily Democratic district.

The 65th District includes Battery Park City, the Financial District, Chinatown, Little Italy, the Lower East Side and parts of Soho and the East Village. Silver represented the district for nearly 40 years.

Niou, a two-year resident of the Financial District, served as chief of staff for Queens Assemblyman Ron Kim. Her endorsements included state Sen. Daniel Squadron, city comptroller Scott Stringer, several major labor unions and The New York Times.

Alice Cancel has been serving as interim Assemblywoman for the district following a special election held in April to replace Silver, who had been convicted on corruption charges.The County Democratic Committee in February elected Cancel, a Southbridge Towers resident and longtime district leader, as its candidate in that election. Before that election took place, Niou called the voting process “flawed” and “not very democratic” and withdrew her name. In the Tuesday primary, Niou drew well over twice the votes cast for Cancel.

Following are the unofficial election results, as reported Tuesday night by the city’s Board of Elections.

Yuh-Line Niou  2,742  31.8%

Jenifer Rajkumar 1,612   18.7%

Paul Newell 1,381 16%

Alice Cancel 1,069  12.4%

Don Lee 984  11.4%

Gigi Li 827  9.6%