U.S. Rep. Yvette Clarke Wins 5th Term In NY's 9th District

Updated 11:20 p.m.

BROOKLYN, NY — U.S. Rep. Yvette D. Clarke has won a fifth term representing New York's 9th Congressional District, according to NY1.

Clarke, who has been in Congress since 2006, held more than 153,000, or 82.3 percent of, votes in the Brooklyn district as of 11:20 p.m. on Tuesday, according to NY1, where all precincts had been reported.

Clarke had faced three challengers, Republican Constantine Jean-Pierre, Libertarian Gary Popkin and Joel B. Amabilah-Azumah. Jean-Pierre came the closest to reaching Clarke with about 31,000 votes.

The results do not yet count absentee ballots, which the BOE will begin to count next week.

"...I can’t help but to be incredibly grateful for the support of my family, friends and neighbors who have once again chosen to send me to Congress to fight on their behalf. Thank you and let’s continue the fight together," Clarke said on Facebook Tuesday night, noting that absentee ballots still need to be counted next week, but that the Associated Press had called the race.

The general race comes after Clarke faced a crowded race in the Democratic Primary, where she beat out challengers Adem Bunkeddeko, Brooklyn Council member Chaim Deutsch, Flatbush business owner Lutchi Gayot and housing organizer and retired U.S. Army veteran Isiah James.

Clarke, who previously represented the 11th Congressional District, has earned more than 80 percent of the vote in the strongly-Democratic 9th district since first running in 2014. The 9th Congressional District includes Crown Heights, Flatbush, Midwood, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Sheepshead Bay and more.

Clarke pointed to affordable housing, healthcare, a pathway to citizenship for undocumented Americans and climate change as issues she is hoping to tackle should she win a fourth term.

Her challengers did not respond to requests from Patch to fill out their candidate profile questionnaire and have no campaign websites that Patch could find.

Before Election Day, hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers had already cast their votes as the coronavirus crisis prompted an unprecedented level of mail-in and early voting.

Brooklyn saw the most early voters of any borough, with more than 373,000 people in the borough casting their ballots before Tuesday despite hours-long lines at overloaded poll sites. Mail-in ballots also went out to a large number of Brooklynites, albeit with some problems due to a printing error.

Some long lines and other polling site issues continued into Election Day, though most voters reported smooth sailing at the polls.

Clarke's race was one of two congressional races in Brooklyn Patch is following closely. Check out results for the 7th Congressional District, where Rep. Nydia Velazquez is seeking a 15th term, here.

The 7th Congressional District includes Sunset Park, Red Hook, Gowanus, Bushwick and parts of Fort Greene, Williamsburg, Park Slope, Queens and Chinatown in Manhattan.