It's Wednesday, you deserve a treat, like an episode of the Hell Gate Podcast! Listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.
We have a winner in the special election for the Manhattan City Council seat vacated by now-State Senator Erik Bottcher—Carl Wilson, a founding member of the Hell's Kitchen Democrats and Bottcher's former chief of staff, beat out top challenger Lindsey Boylan, who's most known for being the first woman to publicly accuse former Governor Andrew Cuomo of sexual harassment.
While Wilson didn't reach the 50 percent threshold needed to formally declare victory, he won enough votes—43 percent in the first round of ranked-choice voting—for Boylan to concede.
The election won't be officially certified until next week, after the BOE has finished tabulating all of the votes.
Wilson will serve out Bottcher's term representing the district, which includes parts of the West Village, Chelsea, and Hell's Kitchen. In a victory speech, Wilson reiterated parts of his platform—affordable housing for artists, safe streets, and fostering "vibrant and inclusive" neighborhoods—and acknowledged the work ahead. "Let me be clear, this is just the beginning," he said during his election night party, held at the queer Hell's Kitchen cocktail bar Vers. "Winning an election is not the finish line. It is the starting point."