Meet Canarsie’s new assemblywoman.
Democratic politico Jaime Williams trounced Republican real estate broker Jeffrey Ferretti in a landslide special election to fill the vacant 59th Assembly District seat on April 19. Williams framed the win as a victory for voters — but also as a coup for Democratic Party Chairman Frank Seddio’s Thomas Jefferson Club, which backed her.
“Definitely tonight, a victory has happened for our club and district,” she said.
Williams garnered 14,522 votes to Ferretti’s 3,086, according to preliminary results from the state.
The win didn’t come as a surprise for Seddio, who boasted that the deep-blue district and his club’s get-out-the-vote campaign were a one-two punch Ferretti couldn’t possibly parry.
“It’s what we predicted,” he said. “We never lose, and we always win big. It’s a predictable number that we would normally have based on the voter turnout and based on areas that vote for us in the district.”
The special election came after a political musical chairs of sorts. Williams’ former boss, state Sen. Roxanne Persaud (D–Canarsie), beat Ferretti for the seat in 2014, then she bested him again in a 2015 special election in the 19th State Senate District to replace disgraced pol John Sampson. Tuesday’s election was to fill the seat Persaud left vacant.
Williams faces re-election this November. The Democratic primary is scheduled for Sept. 13, and Seddio expects Williams has scared off anyone who would dare to challenge her, he said.
“I suspect that there won’t be any primaries in September, because I think it will be proven that she’s a formidable candidate who can win an election and it takes a lot to beat an incumbent,” Seddio said.
And he’s even less worried about perennial also-ran Ferretti making another bid, he said.
“If there was a position of dog catcher, he’d run,” Seddio said. “He’s the perennial Republican candidate.”
