Nessah Smith has joined Anthony Paoletto as the Democratic nominees in the general election after she won a runoff Wednesday by nearly two to one over James Morton to represent the Upper East Side 138th District. Smith and Morton were locked in a tie following the September Democratic primary vote with Morton running on Mayor Bill Finch’s line and Smith on Joe Ganim’s line.
Smith defeated Morton by 275 to 144 in combined votes including absentee ballots at Thomas Hooker School and the JFK Campus. The sleepy turnout was less than 10 percent.
In the September Democratic primary, 1,763 electors voted in the Upper East Side 138th District representing a 38 percent turnout in which Ganim won the district handily over Finch for mayor. The turnout ran five points ahead of the citywide average. Paoletto ran ahead of the other City Council candidates in the district.
Smith was recruited to run for City Council by Maria Pereira who lives in the district and was one of three victorious school board candidates running on Ganim’s line.
Great picture of a team! All working together. I stopped by Hooker earlier in the day to say hello to friends working the polls on both sides. I think the writing was on the wall at 2. I do not know Ms. Smith but I am certain she could be a good partner for the young Mr. Paoletto who was looking pretty sharp at the polls. I think Melanie Jackson and Quentin Dreher may give them a run for their money. I do not think Foster is conceding Hooker school to Ganim. So it should get interesting.
Is that Karyn Jackson in pic running for the BOE? Hmmm, very interesting.