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Sen. Michael Gianaris Cruising to Victory in Primary Race

State Sen. Michael Gianaris (Michael Gianaris /Flickr)

June 23, 2020 By Allie Griffin

Incumbent Michael Gianaris is cruising to victory in the primary race for his current state senate seat representing Western Queens.

Gianaris has a significant lead over competitor and retired sanitation worker Ignazio “Iggy” Terranova. He had garnered nearly 74 percent of votes for the 12th Senate District, according to unofficial results from the NYC Board of Elections with 78 percent of scanners reported at around midnight.

The results are not final, since an unprecedented number of absentee ballots have yet to be counted. The BOE will begin counting absentee ballots by hand after June 30.

Tonight’s unofficial results are gathered from in-person ballots cast Tuesday and during early voting.

However, Gianaris — who has represented the 12th district in the State Senate since 2010 and currently serves as Deputy Majority Leader, the second-highest ranking member of the Senate — will likely take the race.

Thank you pic.twitter.com/hU35vm99sp

— Sen. Mike Gianaris (@SenGianaris) June 24, 2020

“Hey everyone, we did it,” Gianaris said in a video he posted to Twitter shortly after 10 p.m. “We had a resounding victory tonight.”

Both Gianaris and Terranova were raised in Astoria as children of immigrants. Gianaris was born in the neighborhood, while Terranova moved to Astoria when he was two years old.

Gianaris, however, leans more to the left than the insurgent candidate. The incumbent, who was a critic of the Amazon deal, led the way in Albany passing new rent protection laws and bail reform.

He said his likely win proves the success of the progressive movement.

“Make no mistake, our opponents wanted this election to be a referendum on the progressive movement in the Democratic party and boy was it ever,” Gianaris said. “We stood up and made a statement that this movement is built to last and is here to stay.”

Terranova had blamed Gianaris for the Amazon HQ2 deal falling through in Long Island City. He said the loss of 25,000 jobs promised by the e-commerce giant inspired him to run.