#Democrat Council members get promotions in 3 borough president races

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards cruised to reelection, as City Council members Mark Levine of Manhattan, Antonio Reynoso of Brooklyn and Vanessa Gibson of the Bronx all got promotions to borough-wide posts on Tuesday.

Gibson will replace Bronx BP Ruben Diaz Jr., Levine will take over for Manhattan’s Gale Brewer, who is returning to the City Council, and Reynoso will succeed Brooklyn Beep Eric Adams, who was elected mayor Tuesday evening.

Richards, a former City councilman representing parts of southeast Queens, comfortably triumphed over Republican contender Thomas Zmich, earning 66 percent of the borough’s voters to the GOP longshot’s 30 percent, with about 88 percent of the Board of Elections’ ballot machines disclosing their figures.

Levine (D-Morningside Heights), who chairs the Council’s health-care committee, trounced Upper East Side doorman Louis Puliafito, the Republican longshot in the Manhattan BP race, 87 percent to 11 percent with 53 percent of Board of Elections ballot scanners reporting result.

Reynoso, a progressive north Brooklyn rep, took a dominant 60-point lead over Republican and Conservative nominee Menachem Raitport, who received just 18 percent of the vote with roughly 30 percent of the BOE’s tabulation machines reporting their results.

And with 80 percent of the vote in and her receiving roughly that amount of Bronx ballots, Gibson sealed the deal in her faceoff against Janelle King, a Republican, and Samuel Ravelo of the Conservative Party, who got just 14 and 7 percent of the vote respectively. The second-term councilwoman and former State Assembly member will be the first woman to serve as Bronx’s BP.

Meanwhile, on Staten Island, disgraced ex-congressman Vito Fossella has successfully staged an epic political comeback against Democrat lawyer Mark Murphy and Leticia Remauro, the Conservative Party contender. With over 81 percent of BOE scanners submitting their tallies, Fossella stood roughly 30 percent ahead of Murphy.