Democrat Iwen Chu has defeated Republican Vito LaBella in the newly created state Senate District 17, which includes Bath Beach, Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst, Kensington and Sunset Park.
Chu, a former staffer for Assemblymember Peter Abbate, will be the first Asian-American woman in the New York Senate.
The day after the election, with 97.30 percent of scanners reporting, Chu had 17,125 votes (50.24 percent) to LaBella’s 16,910 (49.61 percent), according to the New York City Board of Elections. She held her lead when the absentee ballots were counted this week.
“I promise every day to fight for a better New York – safer, cleaner, and more affordable for our families, and to be a voice for all our communities,” Chu said on Twitter. “I am here to serve all in SD17 as we are a community, first and foremost.”
LaBella, a retired detective who was twice elected to District 20’s Community Education Council, congratulated Chu and thanked his supporters.
“I ran for state Senate to be able to represent everyone in District 17 and to have the chance to reach out and work with all of the district’s multicultural communities,” he said. “By any measure, that effort has been an overwhelming success. In a district where Republican/Conservative voters are far outnumbered, we lost by about 1%.”
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