DNAinfo Staff Reporters
MANHATTAN — Voters angry with their representatives in Albany and Washington over late budgets, service cuts and ethics violations vowed to "kick the bums out" as they hit poll sites across Manhattan to cast their primary ballots Tuesday.
Tom Rode, 60, a retiree who lives in the West Village, said that he is itching for change. That’s why he voted for Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who as of just past midnight early Wednesday morning, was neck-and-neck with State Sen. Eric Schneiderman in the Democratic nomination for attorney general.
"That whole area of the state government doesn’t work. It's time for a change," Rode said, adding that Schneiderman, should have done more during his decade-plus years in office to address voters' concerns.
West Village author Warren Allen, 88, concurred.
"I want to kick the bums out," said Allen, 88, after casting his vote in Chelsea Tuesday.
But Allen said he voted for Schneiderman anyway.
In Harlem, where 20-term incumbent Congressman Charlie Rangel was challenged by Adam Clayton Powell IV, voters stuck with Rangel despite his upcoming hearing over 13 alleged ethics violations.
One 83-year-old Harlem man who gave his initials as C.Y., said he voted for Rangel because he didn't feel there was any other option.
"There's no one else running against Rangel who's decent," he said. "All we have is Rangel…I vote for him because, for me, it's the only thing to do."
Meanwhile, in the congressional race for the East Side's 14th District, candidates decisively voted back in the incumbent, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, over political upstart Reshma Saujani.
“I would have liked a change, but her [Maloney’s] voting record is at least simpatico with my feelings," said East Village resident Sheryl Harawitz, of Maloney, who was voted into office 17 years ago.
U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand also faced a primary challenge from Gail Goode, a city attorney, but shortly after the polls closed, early results showed the incumbent had the race locked up, according to the AP.
Stever Rathe, 62, a Democrat from TriBeCa, said that while he wasn't so sure about Gillibrand when she first took office, he's been impressed with her record especially on gay rights.
"She's really grown into the position. She's risen to the occasion," he said.
Jay Townsend, a Hudson Valley small businessman, won the GOP primary for U.S. Senate and will run against Sen. Chuck Schumer.
While Democratic nominee for governor and current AG Andrew Cuomo did not face a primary challenger, Tea Part-backed Republican Carl Paladino beat out former Long Island Congressman Rick Lazio in a huge upset in the Republican gubernatorial primary.
Christian Giordano, 44, a Republican who lives in TriBeCa, said she voted for the Buffalo businessman and political newcomer over Lazio.
"I've never been a Lazio fan. It was an anti-Lazio vote," she said.
Those already in office also turned out to cast their votes across Manhattan.
Gov. David Paterson, voted with his wife, Michelle, a little after 9 a.m. at P.S. 175 on W. 134th Street, near his home in the Lenox Terrace apartment complex.
He declined to say how he would cast his vote in the race to replace him as governor in November, but expressed support for Democratic nominee for Cuomo.
Paterson also said he wasn't sad to be off Tuesday's primary ballot. With his father, Basil, standing nearby, Paterson said he was proud of his attempts to keep the state's budget in order, even though saying no to spending made him unpopular.
"They say be careful what you wish for. For my next life I'm going to wish to be a governor at a time of wealth," he said.
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn also cast her vote early at P.S. 33 on the corner of 9th Avenue and 26th St., as she took a break from stumping for Schneiderman across the street.
Despite problems with new voting machines at poll sites across the city, Quinn said that her experience "went incredibly smoothly."
Still, she admitted, "I was a little nervous, I have to say. I'm a New Yorker, I don't like change."
The polls will remain open until 9 p.m.
Written by Jill Colvin
Reporting by Jill Colvin, Tara Kyle, Leslie Albrecht, Gabriela Resto-Montero, Jon Schuppe, Patrick Hedlund and Julie Shapiro
