THE BRONX — Incumbent candidates won big across the board in The Bronx in Tuesday's primary elections for the state Senate, Assembly and City Council.
Councilman Rafael Salamanca easily bested challenger Helen Foreman-Hines in his second race this year for the 17th District City Council seat, winning 62.03 percent of the vote to her 37.59 percent with about 94 percent of precincts reporting, according to unofficial results from the Board of Elections.
Incumbent state Sens. Ruben Diaz Sr. and Gustavo Rivera easily defeated their primary challengers as well in races to represent the 32nd and 33rd districts, respectively. Diaz defeated Elliot Quinones with 89.04 percent of the vote, while Rivera defeated Fernando Cabrera with 62.74 percent, according to the BOE.
Jamaal T. Bailey won the crowded race to represent the 36th district in the state Senate, taking roughly 60 percent of the vote, according to the BOE.
Incumbents also had an extremely strong showing in the State Assembly races, with Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo and Assemblymen Jose Rivera, Marcos Crespo, Victor Pichardo and Luis Sepulveda all handily beating back primary challengers.
