NEW YORK ― With a slim lead over his nearest rival, Dan Goldman, the former federal prosecutor who led House Democrats’ 2019 impeachment case against then-President Donald Trump, declared victory on Tuesday evening in his race for the Democratic nomination in New York’s 10th Congressional District.
The primary election in the solidly Democratic seat has not been officially called by The Associated Press.
“This has been an inspiring and humbling experience for a first-time candidate and to stand in front of you here today as your Democratic nominee for Congress,” Goldman declared to cheering supporters at a brewery in Soho. “And while we will appreciate and respect the democratic process and make sure that all the votes are counted, it is quite clear from the way that the results have come in that we have won.”
When Goldman made the announcement at 10:30 p.m., he had a lead of less than 2 percentage points over New York Assembly member Yuh-Line Niou. Niou announced around the same time that she would not concede in the race.
“I know that tonight’s results aren’t yet what we want to hear, but we will not concede until we count every vote,” she told supporters.
There may not be official results in the race for another week as outstanding absentee ballots are counted.
In the Manhattan portion of the district, 10,679 people requested absentee ballots and just 3,881 had been returned as of Tuesday. And in the Brooklyn portion of the district, 10,823 people requested absentee ballots and just 3,968 had been returned.
If a person returning an absentee ballot gets it postmarked by the Tuesday election day, it will still be eligible to be counted if it arrives by Aug. 30.
With nearly 99% of the in-person ballots ― and absentee ballots that have already arrived ― counted, Goldman held a lead of just over 1,300 votes. That means there is technically a chance for Niou to win if there are a number of absentee ballots that come in in the coming days and they skew heavily toward Niou.