WEST VILLAGE, NY — Democrat Erik Bottcher was projected to win his City Council re-election bid for District 3, NY1 reported.
Bottcher held a strong lead since polls closed at 9 p.m. in New York City. By 9:40 p.m., Bottcher was projected to win his election, according to NY1.
With over 99 percent of votes counted, Bottcher led with 89.06 percent of the vote, or 13,693 votes, according to the city’s Board of Elections. His opponent, Robert Bobrick, had won 10.37 percent of the vote.
Find out what's happening in West Villagewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Early tallies Tuesday showed low voter turnout across New York City, CBS News reported. In Manhattan, 110,859 voters had checked in to vote by 6 p.m., according to the city’s Board of Elections.
Bottcher fought to defend his seat against Robert Bobrick, who ran on the Republican and Medical Freedom party lines.
Find out what's happening in West Villagewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Along with the West Village and Hell’s Kitchen, Bottcher would also represent Chelsea, Greenwich Village, West SoHo, Hudson Square, Times Square, the Garment District, Flatiron, and a very small section of the Upper West Side.
Bottcher replaced his longtime boss Corey Johnson, to whom he has served as chief of staff, when he was first elected to City Council in 2021
For the first time in 20 years, all the winners of 2021’s Council races served only a two-year term, opposed to the usual four years, meaning nearly all seats were up for election this year.
The shortened term is due to a rarely discussed provision in New York City’s charter that changes the term length in the City Council from two to four years every 20 years to allow new challengers under new parties.
While Bottcher did not submit a reply to Patch’s candidate survey this year, you can read Bottcher’s complete set of answers to Patch’s 2021 survey: here.
Patch reporter Emily Rahhal contributed to this report.
Click Here:
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.