David Carr to be certified as winner of chaotic GOP City Council race on Staten Island — but pro-Trump challenger cries fraud
The city Board of Elections will certify David Carr as the winner of a deeply contentious GOP primary for a Staten Island City Council seat following a hand recount, a source confirmed Friday, but his hardcore pro-Trump opponent is vowing to fight the outcome in court over dubious allegations of voter disenfranchisement.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal board business, said Carr, a senior Republican City Council aide, held on to his slim lead over challenger Marko Kepi after the hand tallying.
Though the exact timing isn’t set, the board will certify Carr’s win because the recount did not discover any discrepancies, the source added.
Carr declared victory already Thursday, saying in a statement that “it is time to move forward and focus on the general election.”
But Kepi, a reservist U.S. marine whose primary bid centered around his loyalty to former President Donald Trump, vowed to proceed with a legal challenge over his unsubstantiated claim that the Carr campaign unlawfully threw out ballots cast by Albanian-American voters in the race.
“I feel like I’m back in Communist Albania,” said Kepi, who emigrated to the U.S. from the eastern European country as a child. “Here in the United States of America, every legally cast vote should be counted — that is the law! But that is NOT what is happening at the Staten Island Board of Elections.”
Chapin Fay, a spokesman for the Kepi, said his campaign is targeting roughly 200 absentee and affidavit ballots that were excluded from the count after being challenged by the Carr campaign.
According to Fay, the discarded ballots were cast by Albanian-American voters — who he claimed are widely supportive of Kepi. Though he did not provide proof, Fay said the thrown out ballots would flip the race if a judge steps in and readmits them to the count.
“We are confident a judge will see through the Carr campaign’s shameless effort to disenfranchise only Albanian-American voters and order all legal votes counted, at which point Marko Kepi will be the Republican nominee,” Fay said.
The BOE source said the Kepi campaign’s court plans won’t stop the board’s certification.
“The burden is on the Kepi campaign,” the source said.
The Staten Island race is one of just two primaries in the June 22 municipal elections that required hand recounts due to razor-thin ballot margins. A recount remains ongoing in the other race, the Democratic primary for City Council District 9 in Harlem.
Carr and Kepi are vying for the District 50 seat currently held by term-limited Republican Councilmember Steven Matteo. Carr is Matteo’s chief of staff and has been considered a favorite to succeed him.
The Staten Island contest has been marred by scandal for weeks.
In addition to the disenfranchisement allegations, federal and state investigators are investigating the Kepi campaign over allegations that it may have forged absentee ballots to boost his vote count, according to WNYC.
