NEW YORK (TIP): Jenifer Rajkumar, a Democrat running in the state’s 65th Assembly District, candidate for the New York State Assembly, has lost the race in the Democratic primaries held on September 13.
She was against an array of strong candidates to fill the seat vacated by the powerful NY State Assembly Speaker, Sheldon Silver. Rajkumar, a longtime resident of the area and a Democratic District Leader for three terms, managed to split some of the voting blocks, to garner a second place finish.
“I am enormously proud of the campaign we ran, and very grateful for the outpouring of support I received from our Desi community everywhere,” Rajkumar told the media. “This was a tough race in a tough district.”
The winner, Yuh-Line Niou won 2,742 votes, 31.55 percent, and Rajkumar came in 2nd with 1,612 or 18.55 percent of the vote. Ranged behind her were Paul Newell with 1,381 (15.89 percent); Alive Cancel, 1,069 (12.30 percent; Don Lee, 984 votes (11.32 percent); and Gigi Li, 827 votes, 9.51 percent.
This heavily Democratic downtown Manhattan district made up of diverse ethnic communities and a mix of upper and lower income populations, assures a winner of the primary a seat in the state Assembly almost automatically. But just 8,692 Democrats cast votes in a district where registered Democrats number 43,094.
“With all of New York’s powerbrokers supporting other candidates, I still came in a very respectable second place in a six candidate field thanks to votes from throughout Lower Manhattan’s diverse neighborhoods,” Rajkumar said.