Bottcher Sweeps to Landslide Victory in District 3 Race over Robert Bobrick

Incumbent Erik Bottcher scored one of the most impressive wins in a contested city council race in Manhattan on Nov. 7, pulling in 89.1 percent of all votes versus his opponent Robert Bobrick who ran on the Republic party line and the anti-vaxxer Medical Freedom party line, which gave him a combined 10.2 percent of the vote.

There was some controversy in the campaign. Bobrick said that someone had used his name to distribute anti-Botcher flyers with vulgar epithets which he said he had his campaign workers remove.

Bottcher had not responded to calls from Straus News over the incident by presstime.

He celebrated on election at a Greenwich Village pub with supporters and campaign workers. His district includes parts of Greenwich Village, Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen.

With 99 peent of the vote tallied in the district 3 race, Bottcher had 13,693 votes compared to Bobrick who had a combined 1,595 votes, including 1,425 on the Republican line and 170 on the anti-vaxxer Medical Freedom party line.

Bobrick in a statement to Straus News post election said: “Was the election in District 3 a momentous win for the Democrats in a district where they outnumber Republicans almost 8-1? Last year I ran for State Senate 47 as a candidate for the brand new Medical Freedom Party and received one percent of the vote. This year I ran a grassroots campaign for City Council in District 3 on both the Republican and Medical Freedom party lines and received 10 percent of the vote.
He continued, “My goal is to bring diversity, i.e. Republicans and Independents, into the uniparty Democrat-dominated City Council because New York is under assault by proponents of a globalist agenda and needs leadership! I support small businesses. Our incomparable grassroots campaign workers visited more than 300 local stores. I reject medical mandates.”

The NYCHA houses Fulton houses on West 16th to 19th between Ninth and Tenth Avenuses and the Elliott-Chelsea Houses between Ninth and Tenth between W. 25th and 27th houses about 4,500 residents,

Bobrick said he does not support the proposed $1.5 billion project to knock down two NYCHA housing projectsand rebuild them.

The city had said the cost of repairing the buildings was equal to the cost of the tear down and rebuild project and it was supported by Mayor Eric Adams and Council member Eric Bottcher, who said the majority of residents supported the move. But some residents had objected, saying they feared being displaced from their longtime homes while reconstruction is underway.

“I believe we must have no displacement of NYCHA residents or demolition of their buildings. However, when an activist from the NYCHA houses put my name on flyers that included vulgar anti-Bottcher epithets and posted them throughout Chelsea, my campaign workers removed them from a score of locations, and I publicly disavowed the language used,” Bobrick said.

“My messaging, on the other hand, has reached thousands of residents. I am grateful for their donations, which entitled me to matching funds, and thank those who voted for me. I do not feel the election was a loss, but rather a step on the way toward reforming the corrupt and dysfunctional political culture of our beloved New York City.”

Bottcher had said in a pre-election question and answer with Straus News that he considered the affordable housing crisis the biggest issue in the city. He did not return calls or emails from Straus News by presstime post election, but took the high road in his thank you to supporters on X (formerly Twitter).

“Thank you, neighbors in Council District 3!,” Bottcher wrote. “Serving as your Council Member is the honor and privilege of my lifetime. We are facing unprecedented challenges as a city, but I know we will prevail, because when we come together as New Yorkers, there is nothing we can’t accomplish.”

Bottcher, who has long been active in LBGTQ initiatives, succeeded term limited City Council speaker Corey Johnson in 2022 after previously serving as a staffer. That was his first foray into elected office for the activist who moved to NYC from upstate after he graduated from college. He’d be eligible to run again when the latest two year term expires.

The only city council members to top Bottcher’s 89.1 percent vote tally in Manhattan were the three candidates in the borough who ran unopposed: former Central Park Five member Yusef Salaam pulled 98.3 percent of voters in his district that includes Harlem and East Harlem; Carlina Rivera who pulled 92.8 percent on the lower East Side and portions of mid-town East; and Shaun Abreu who pulled 97.3 percent from a district that includes Washington Heights and Morningside Heights.