In Primary, West Siders Embrace Incumbents

by dan rivoli

in this year's primary election, upper west side voters gave a favorite son a promotion and rewarded legislative incumbents with another two-year term. here are the results from contested democratic primary races in the upper west side. attorney general: eric schneiderman

eric schneiderman, an upper west sider and six-term state senator, narrowly won a five-way democratic primary for attorney general.

schneiderman beat his nearest competitor kathleen rice, a district attorney from long island, with 34 percent of the vote to 32 percent, according to the ap's latest tally.

he totaled 202,894 and cleaned up in the five boroughs, especially in manhattan. there, he took 57 percent of the borough's vote.

in november, he faces a tough challenge from republican dan donovan, staten island's district attorney. congress: charles rangel

the harlem lion handily beat back four challengers in the democratic primary. rangel, elected in 1970, ran for re-election as he faced 13 counts of ethics violation. but voters in a district that covers harlem, northern manhattan and a sizable part of the upper west side, gave rangel another term in congress with 51 percent of the vote. adam clayton powell iv, an east harlem assembly member, was a distant second with 23 percent of the vote. state senate: bill perkins

bill perkins, first elected in 2006, overwhelmingly beat his challenger, charter school advocate basil smikle, in this harlem state senate seat that extends into the upper west side. the voters sent bill perkins back to albany with 76 percent of the vote. gov. david paterson, who used to hold the state senate seat, campaigned with smikle in a last-minute effort to boost his candidacy. state senate: adriano espaillat

in the race to succeed eric schneiderman in the state senate, adriano espaillat won the democratic nomination against his rival mark levine with 51 percent of the vote. this is a diverse district that stretches from the upper west side to cover all of northern manhattan and reaches into the bronx. in the four-way race, levine, from washington heights, took 39 percent of the vote. with espaillat's assured november victory, this is the first time the upper west side will be without a state senator from the neighborhood. state committee: daniel cohen

the state committee primary was a race for an obscure spot that only garnered the attention of die-hard democrats. it's an unpaid position within the democratic party. the committee member goes to the state convention to vote for statewide candidates to be placed on the ballot and craft the party platform.

daniel cohen, who advocated for an increased role in local community issues, beat bob ginsberg, who held the seat for 30 years until 2008, with 55 percent of the vote. cohen will represent democrats in the 69th assembly district, which covers the morningside heights and manhattanville area of the west side.