The incredibly competitive race to replace City Council Speaker Adrienne E. Adams in Queen’s District 28 has officially wrapped up with the second round of New York City Board of Elections (BOE) ranked choice voting results posted this week. Tyrell D. Hankerson, Adams’ chief of staff, is the new councilmember-elect.
“This was a hard-fought race, and we are proud of the coalition we have built throughout this district. From the very beginning, our message was one District 28, and we carried that message throughout the campaign,” said Hankerson on Tuesday, July 1.
“We are elated that the voters chose me, Ty Hankerson, to be their next representative, and we will fight every single day to make sure our district is affordable, is safe, and we all enjoy a better quality of life. Thank you to everyone who supported us. To my opponents, I look forward to a continued dialogue for the benefit of our community.”
The council seat in District 28 encompasses the neighborhoods of Jamaica, Richmond Hill, Rochdale Village, and South Ozone Park. This district was spotlighted, not only because of Adams’ recent mayoral run in the June primary, but because it is a culturally diverse Black and Brown (meaning South Asian and Indo-Caribbean as well as Hispanic) immigrant community that is split up among numerous city council districts due to redistricting. It’s also bifurcated by the Van Dyck Expressway, said attendees, with mostly Little Guyana on the left and South Jamaica’s Black community on the right.
Hankerson was up against Japneet Singh, a young Sikh community leader; the exonerated former Councilmember Ruben Wills; Latoya LeGrand, an aide to Assemblymember Vivian Cook; and real estate broker Romeo Hitlall.
Hankerson drew his campaign experience and policies from working with Speaker Adams. He supports legalizing safe basement apartments, educating street vendors, introducing an Indo-Caribbean–based curriculum in schools, protecting the city’s status as a sanctuary city, passing the New York for All Act; and introducing more cultural sensitivity training in the NYPD, especially when it comes to interactions with transgender New Yorkers.
“To my boss and mentor, Speaker Adrienne Adams, thank you for the foundation you laid and the trust you put in me to make the Great 28 even greater. To the pastors, civic and tenants leaders, labor, Congressmember Meeks , Senator Sanders and Assemblymember Khaleel Anderson and most importantly the voters of district 28, thank you for believing in me and I will fight everyday to make you proud of me,” continued Hankerson.
In the first round of ranked choice voting (RCV) results, posted on Election Night on June 24, Hankerson was leading the pack with 34.81% of the votes, while Singh was close behind with 24.75% of the votes. He remained optimistic that he could win big.
This week’s RCV results show that Hankerson got 58.8% of the votes in the final round. Singh had 41.2% of the votes.
“I’m honored to have received over 40 percent of the vote in a district that has only 700 registered Sikh voters,” said Singh about the loss. “It was a testament to the coalitions and community we were able to build. If you look at the numbers, we were able to win in areas where no South Asian or Indo-Caribbean candidate even bothered to campaign. Our campaign was about uplifting all communities that made up District 28 –– and results clearly show how diverse and broad of a coalition we were able to create.”
“This race also highlighted the systemic racism and discrimination that exists within our district and as we move forward there’s a lot of work to be done to close those gaps. And I’m still going to be here, working every single day to close those gaps,” he continued. “I would like to congratulate all the candidates that ran and look forward to working with each one of them to make a better District 28.”