New York City Council candidate Lindsey Boylan, who was backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani in this week’s special election, was resoundingly defeated on Tuesday night by community activist Carl Wilson — a result that also marks a step forward in the evolving fight over a buffer zone bill vetoed by Mamdani last week.

With 99% of the vote in, Boylan received just over 25% in the contest for the Manhattan district, while Wilson, the preferred candidate of Council Speaker Julie Menin, had clinched a plurality of 43%. 

Wilson also had the backing of Next NYC PAC, which Jewish Insider reported last month represented a coalition of forces linked to two men Mamdani defeated on his path to City Hall: former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and former City Comptroller Scott Stringer.

Wilson’s win is also a victory for legislation Mamdani vetoed last week over the objections of Jewish community groups: a bill that would compel the NYPD to establish formal protocols for security perimeters around educational institutions during protests. Wilson alone among the four candidates for the seat vowed to vote to override the mayor’s veto: if the measure retains the support it passed the Council with last month, it needs only three more votes to overwhelm Mamdani’s opposition.

The other two candidates split the remainder of the more than 14,000 ballots cast in the race to fill the seat of former councilman and now-state Sen. Eric Bottcher, who won election to the state Legislature last fall. The district covers areas of lower Manhattan, including the Stonewall Inn, central to the gay rights movement.

But in the past week-and-a-half, after Mamdani endorsed Boylan — the first woman to accuse Cuomo of sexual misconduct — the race took on the character of a power struggle, pitting the mayor and Brad Lander — a Mamdani ally and the city’s former comptroller now challenging Rep. Dan Goldman (D-NY) from the congressman’s left — against Menin, local politicos, Next NYC PAC and Rep. Nydia Velazquez (D-NY). 

Mamdani has backed Lander against Goldman and endorsed Assemblymember Claire Valdez for the seat held by Velazquez, who is retiring, over the congresswoman’s favored candidate, Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso.