District 19 Council Moman Vickie Paladino is on her way to serving another term in office after declaring victory in the Nov. 4 election against Democratic nominee Ben Chou.
Unofficial results show the Republican incumbent and current City Council Minority Whip won 57.8% of the votes, according to the city’s Board of Elections. This win marks the council member’s third consecutive term in office. She was first elected to represent the district in 2021 and was re-elected in 2023.
City council members generally serve four-year terms, but an exception was made during the 2021 election due to redistricting following the 2020 census. Terms in 2021 and 2023 were limited to two years, but returned to four years this election cycle.
District 19 represents neighborhoods including Auburndale, College Point, Whitestone, Bay Terrace, Beechhurst and parts of Flushing, Bayside and Douglaston.
As of 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night, 97% of the votes were tallied showing Paladino had won over 24,000 of the nearly 42,000 votes cast in the election.
The council moman celebrated her victory at her campaign office in Bay Terrace surrounded by family, friends, staff and supporters. Paladino came dancing out of her office around 10 p.m., as “Fighter” by Christina Aguilera blasted on the speakers, and delivered a passionate speech to attendees. Mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s victory was announced just before her own, and she opened her speech claiming it was a “planned attack on the middle-class, white neighborhoods.”
“Mamdani who?” she proclaimed to her supporters as they cheered. “Not my mayor.”
She said she refused to negotiate on the “betterment” of her district and asked her supporters to trust that she would fight for their interests, advising her opponents to “buckle up.”
“I will never do you wrong, not ever,” Paladino said. “I love my district, I love the people who live in this district, and I can’t ask for better… This is a victory for northeast Queens. Be proud. Be very, very proud.”
Paladino, 71, ran on a highly conservative platform and claims to “[deliver] a voice of reason and common sense compromise,” on her campaign website. According to her biography on the City Council website, her legislative priorities lie in public safety, support for the NYPD, preservation of quality of life, education, support for small businesses and government transparency.
Since taking office, the council member has sponsored legislation that supports veteran services, eliminates fees for firearm licenses and permits, delays Local Law 97 greenhouse gas emission reduction requirements, tracks funds spent on migrants and requires a study on the feasibility of providing parents with a $10,000 tuition reimbursement per student to cover the cost of nonpublic schooling.
The outspoken political figure has also gained media attention after referring to students on college campuses protesting the war in Gaza as “monsters” and calling to “slay” them in May 2024, called for Mamdani’s deportation this past June, and was kicked off the Council’s Committee on Mental Health, Disabilities and Addiction in May 2023 after claiming Drag Story Hour NYC was “grooming” children and exposing them to “sexual content.”
Chou, an NYC firefighter who grew up in Douglaston, spent the evening watching the election results alongside friends, family and supporters from his campaign office in Bay Terrace, as well. He said it was not the results he was looking for, but he hoped Paladino would do good for the district.
“I’m grateful to everyone who voted for me, supported me, and everyone on my team,” Chou said. “It doesn’t stop my commitment toward integrity. I work for the community and I care for the community. Tomorrow morning, I’ll be at the firehouse in my work uniform and be on my way responding to emergencies.”
Chou, 34, ran on a progressive platform of community, affordability and safety. Born in Flushing to middle-class Chinese-Burmese immigrants, Chou said their values of hard work and education inspired his choice to become a firefighter and eventually run for city council.
His campaign website detailed his plans to prevent hate crimes, invest more money in parks and public spaces, build a new specialized high school, increase wages for paraprofessionals, fix the property tax system to raise taxes on luxury apartments and lower taxes for middle-class homeowners, protect co-op owners from bearing the cost of Local Law 97, protect healthcare for retirees, fully fund CUNY and increase wages and benefits for EMTs and entry-level police officers.
Leveraging his experience as a firefighter, Chou claimed no one was better positioned to fight for resources, staffing and training for first responders. He said his plan was to build trust to improve public safety rather than fearmonger. His agenda included “cost-effective” crime deterrents through a pilot program that would provide free motion-sensor lights to homeowners and tenants, improved visibility at pedestrian crosswalks and investments in infrastructure to fight flooding and protect against extreme heat.
Chou received endorsements from Stonewall Democrats of NYC, Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, Voters for Animal Rights, Planned Parenthood of Greater New York, Moms Demand Action and the Himalayan Democratic Voice.
The two campaigns sparred earlier in the month when Paladino’s son, Thomas Paladino Jr., was filmed verbally berating and accusing Chou’s campaign volunteers of harassing Paladino voters at a polling site at St. Luke’s Church, in Whitestone, on Sunday. However, the volunteers denied they were harassing Paladino voters, as did Chou’s campaign spokesman Tom Glinkowski.
In the weeks leading up to the election, Chou called out Paladino on social media for her “big money” donors Andrew Esposito and Chris Karalis of Apex Development Group, which requested a zone change at a site on 24th Avenue, in Bay Terrace, to build an eight-story, 200-unit apartment building. While Paladino claimed she did not want anything built at the site “right now,” Chou raised concerns over what “right now” meant and worried the donors could influence her to support the project despite it partially being in a FEMA flood zone.
Paladino recently mailed out a newsletter that criticized Chou’s support of Mayoral Candidate Zohran Mamdani, claiming Chou supports “radical” measures including open borders and ending deportations that were “finally removing dangerous criminals and illegals from our streets.” In an interview with Streetsblog NYC, Chou said Paladino was merely “fearmongering” and painted his support for the Northeast Queens Greenway, speed cameras and bike lanes as though he’s destroying residents’ way of life.
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