October 2, 2013
By Marc Bussanich
New York, NY–At about 10:00 pm last night the news flashed across the screen that Councilwoman Letitia James won the run-off election to be the city’s next public advocate. The crowd at The Delancey bar on the Lower East Side was relatively subdued the moment the first tally appeared as Councilwoman James jumped to a big lead right out of the gate. Watch Video
Assemblyman Daniel Squadron congratulated Ms. James and said he’d go back to Albany to pursue legislation that would help New Yorkers economically. Mr. Squadron noted it was a tough campaign. Indeed, at their last debate Ms. James and Mr. Squadron traded barbs–Ms. James saying Mr. Squadron lived on a trust fund for years and Mr. Squadron accusing Ms. James of hiding from her constituents that she’s a landlord and didn’t report her rental income.
In that debate Mr. Squadron emphasized that the office of Public Advocate is all about trust. He was asked a poignant question by the moderator whether he had ever tried marijuana whereby he answered yes, but Ms. James answered no. Asked for his reaction to Ms. James’ “no,” Mr. Squadron said he doesn’t worry too much about how the other person answers.
The final tally revealed that Ms. James won 60 percent versus Mr. Squadron’s 40 percent with under 200,000 votes cast.
