There are few surprises. As usual the Zalanite candidate - Bill Thompson - bested the Aranite-supported Bill deBlasio by a margin of 2-1 in the virtually exclusive Hasidic poll sites on Heyward Street and Clymer Street. In Heyward it was 2008 for for Thompson vs. 1099 for deBlasio - 62.5 versus 34.2 %, with the rest for the other candidates. On Clymer it is 1,016 (64%) for Thompson, versus 490 (30.8%) for deBalsio.
In other poll sites, the electorate is more mixed, with a higher percent o non-Jewish voters. Given deBlasio's strength with the non-Jewish voters of the area - he ran close to Thompson with Black and Latina, and had a massive advantage with the yuppies and reform minded liberal gentrifies of the area, the two other demographics who are making up significant percentage of Williamsburg poll sites share with Hasidim - deBlasio naturally fared better there than in exclusive Hasidic areas.
In order to find the strongest Hasidic EDs, one can look on the other races where all Hasidim endorsed and voted for the same candidates. Scott Stringer and Daniel Squadron were unanimously endorsed by all Hasidic factions for their respective races. Squadron ran against Letitia James, a woman of color who was representing ares included in our study area. She naturally ran strong in areas outside the Hasidic confines and won citywide, but in Hasidic areas she was trounced 40 to 1. In order to find the stronger Hasidic EDs, one can use the Public Advocate race as a yardstick. When compiling all the EDs where Squadron bested James by 10 to 1 (James received about a 3rd of the votes outside the Jewish area. On can assume that in areas where she received 10 percent, had about 30 percent non-Jewish votes), Thompson received 4,436 votes, versus 2,672 - 59.5 percent versus 35.8.
Some have thrown out different numbers without any quantification, described by even their strongest boaster as "spin." Even if one includes all election districts with a meaningful number of Hasidim, the results are 5,230 versus 3,417, or 60.5 versus 39.5 (when only counting the numbers of Thompson and deBlasio). An these results includes areas with a high number or even majority of non-Jewish voters.
The strong Zalanite turnout for Bill Thompson is illustrated in the fact that the 50th assembly district is where bill Thompson picked up the most votes from any AD citywide, and it's mostly from the Satmar areas. Also, thanks to the huge Zalanite turnout and their strong support for him, Councilman Steve Levin received the highest number of votes of any City council member. He received 13,608 and is the only one to receive more than 13 thousand votes, although many members ran virtually unopposed.
If there is any news this time, is that the Aranites passed on their promises to campaign against Steve Levin. After campaigning for years by their community to be ready to defeat him, they decided to avoid a clear embarrassment at the boots, after being trounced so many times 2 to 1 by the Zalanites. They even hesitated and pushed off their endorsement for Mayor until a day before Rosh Hashanah, too late to be published in their last weekly-official mouth-piece before the elections where these endorsements are usually announced. In the end they decided to go with the clear winner. This shows that the "Tweedledum and Tweedledee" policy may have ended, at least for now.
All in all the Zalanites lead held and was possible stronger than usual, given that the general turnout was stronger versus the last two off-primaries, and they needed a stronger showing even in their strongest districts to overcome the higher number of other voters whom the Aranites are claiming as their votes. On the other hand, it seems that total Hasidic turnout have been lower by 5-10 percent (it was on both sides, given that some Thompson voters were also non-Hasidic, but the aranites saw a larger percentage drop). The hi-holidays may have been a factor, coupled with the subdued campaigns on both sides, lacking the galvanization of earlier races, as may it be a result of the trend that the higher the general interest is in an election the lower is the hasidic turnout, perhaps because they have lesser chances to make the difference in the election, versus local election where the community can single-handedly anoint a winner.
Below are the BoE results for Mayor and Public advocate broken down in Election districts for AD 50 & 53 (the latter has one large Hasidic ED).
For the excel Charts, click on the link to download.
Chart of the election results in Hasidic EDs
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