Wilson Narrowly Clinches Chelsea City Council Democratic Primary

After a week of ranked-choice voting rounds, the NYC Board of Elections released final results declaring Carl Wilson, current City Council Member, as winner of the District 3 City Council Democratic nomination.

Wilson will run in November as the Democratic nominee for re-election to his current position, which he took in April after a special election. Despite none of his competitors actively campaigning, it took three rounds for the Board of Elections to confirm Wilson through ranked-choice voting, which requires over a 50% majority of total votes to secure a win. Wilson surpassed the threshold required with 9,175 of the total votes (53.6%), according to results released June 30.

Lindsey Boylan, who did not actively campaign after conceding to Wilson in the April special election, came in a close second with 46.4% of the total vote.

All competitors—including community activist Layla Law-Gisiko and community board four chairperson Leslie Boghosian Murphy — who had run in the special election to replace the seat vacated by Erik Bottcher appeared on the primary ballot, despite all of them choosing not to run again.

Boylan, who received a large portion of the votes despite her decision not to run in the primary, thanked voters after the final results.

“In light of yesterday’s electoral returns in City Council District 3, I am so proud to see the progressive campaign we built for the Special Election resonate with so many voters again in the Democratic Primary,” Boylan wrote to Straus News. “Even though we did not actively campaign, it is wonderful to see how many voters believe in my progressive vision for the district—one that centered on the fight for immigrant New Yorkers, protecting our trans and queer siblings in a time of unprecedented attacks, and battling the affordability crisis.

“I am very grateful to the many volunteers and advocates who joined us in this fight, one that I will continue as long as is necessary to ensure the most vulnerable among us are centered in our politics,” Boylan added.

In initial results for the June 23 primary election, Wilson was in the lead with 44.01% of the total vote. Wilson was finally able to surpass the 50% threshold after eliminating Law-Gisiko, Boghosian Murphy, and write-in ballots in the second and third round of ranked-choice results.

During his campaign for re-election, Wilson had received endorsements from many established city democrats, including City Council speaker Julie Menin and his predecessor Bottcher, who Wilson worked under as Chief of Staff.

In an instagram post after initial results, Wilson had said he was excited to continue serving as Council Member: “Tonight, I am honored and humbled once again by the trust that the people of District 3 have placed in me. I am confident yet again that Ranked Choice Voting results will bring us over 50%.”

Straus News reached out to Carl Wilson’s team but did not receive a comment before presstime.

For the November election, Wilson may be up against Boylan again. Currently, Ballotpedia lists Boylan as a candidate under the Working Families Party, but Boylan did not confirm any future election plans to Straus News. The Working Families Party in many races endorses Democratic candidates. Straus News had reached out to the Working Families Party about their November endorsement but had not heard back by presstime.

Wilson, who is currently serving on nine different City Council Committees, will be up for re-election in November.

He will be up against Cristina Fortanelli, a classically trained soprano who can sing in nine languages. She is a host of PBS musical specials.

She is running on an independent party line and the Republican line. But it will be an uphill battle to unseat an incumbent Democrat in a district that is overwhelmingly Democratic. Wilson is also openly gay in a seat that has sent a gay representative to the City Council for 35 years.