Carl Wilson Declared Victory in Manhattan's 3rd Council District Special Election
Carl Wilson wins Manhattan's 3rd District in closely watched special election
Carl Wilson declared victory in Tuesday night's special election for the 3rd Council District on Manhattan's West Side, completing a campaign that had the backing of New York City's Council speaker and much of the city's political establishment.
His chief competitor conceded shortly afterward.
Still, Wilson fell seven points short of the threshold to avoid sending the race to ranked-choice voting, according to Election night tallies - meaning it could be about a week before the race is formally decided.
The race for a district that covers the West Village, Chelsea and Hell's Kitchen drew six-figure outside spending and became a proxy battle between Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who supported fellow democratic socialist Lindsey Boylan, and City Council Speaker Julie Menin, who supported Wilson.
Wilson's win would mean the district - home of the Stonewall monument and the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement - would continue to be served by a gay representative, as it has since 1991. Wilson was the only openly gay candidate in the race.
"Winning an election is not the finish line," Wilson told the crowd gathered at his campaign party held at a Hell's Kitchen queer cocktail bar Tuesday night, according to videos posted on social media. "Now the real work begins."
Boylan's campaign said in a statement that she'd called Wilson to concede the race. She also thanked her family, campaign team, endorsers and volunteers, and said the "movement that the Mayor brought to this city lives on and we are carrying its energy forward."
Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal congratulated Wilson on his victory in the District 3 special election on social media.
Hoylman-Sigal, the borough's first openly gay president, said Wilson knows this district inside and out and is ready to hit the ground running.
Wilson served as chief of staff to the seat's previous occupant, now-state Sen. Erik Bottcher, and won broad union and political club backing.
Wilson was broadly considered the early front-runner, with endorsements from Menin, Bottcher and former Council Speakers Christine Quinn and Corey Johnson.
He had about 43% of the vote with 99% of ballots scanned. Election night tallies do not include absentee ballots or mail-in ballots that haven't yet been received and processed.
Under the city's ranked-choice voting system, a candidate needs more than 50% of first-place votes to win in the first round. If no one clears that bar, the Board of Elections redistributes votes from the lower-finishing candidates in subsequent rounds - a process that, combined with the time needed to count absentee ballots, could push final results to as late as May 5.
Boylan, the former state economic development official who became one of the first women to publicly accuse then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment in 2021, had about 26% of the unofficial vote as of Tuesday evening. Her campaign got a lift less than two weeks before Election Day, when Mamdani endorsed her.
Layla Law-Gisiko and Leslie Boghosian Murphy also campaigned for the seat. They took 20% and 11% of the first round as of Tuesday.
Special Council elections are generally quiet affairs, but the race drew attention well beyond the district. Mamdani and former Comptroller Brad Lander hit the streets for Boylan in the campaign's final stretch, while Menin and Bottcher canvassed for Wilson.
In many ways, the two front-runners ran on similar messages. Both focused on improving affordability in the pricey district.
Both pledged to defend trans healthcare and immigrant New Yorkers from the Trump administration. And both promised to join the Council's Progressive Caucus, where either would have become its 24th member - a threshold that would give progressives nearly half of the body's 51 seats.
Still, in the final days of the campaign, it became clear that the proxy battle between Mamdani and Menin was real.
The candidates split sharply over a bill, backed by Menin, that would restrict protests near schools and educational facilities. Mamdani vetoed the measure on Friday. Boylan said she supported the mayor's veto; Wilson said he would vote with Menin to override it.
The race also raised a debate over the importance of gay representation. The 3rd Council District was redrawn in 1991 as a "gay-winnable" seat and has been held by an openly gay representative ever since. The Council's LGBTQ caucus counts six members across every borough, with the exception of Manhattan.
This story has been updated with more information.
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