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Ithaca Common Council primaries have several close races

Several primaries for Ithaca's Common Council have razor-thin margins Wednesday.
Vaughn Golden
/
WSKG
Several primaries for Ithaca's Common Council have razor-thin margins Wednesday.

Ithaca’s common council primaries featured several close races Tuesday.

Two of the three candidates on the Solidarity Slate, a group of progressives focused on racial and housing justice, were trailing after polls closed Tuesday.

David Shapiro leads Nathan Sitaraman, who is on the Solidarity Slate, by a margin of only nine votes. West Fox also trails in a three-way race with Aryeal Jackson and Kris Haines-Sharp with a margin of 35 percent of the vote. Haines-Sharp leads with 44 percent.

Kayla Matos, also on the Solidarity Slate, leads incumbent Alderperson Cynthia Brock in the First Ward. The other two Solidarity Slate candidates, Phoebe Brown and Jorge Defindini, did not face primary challenges.

The two races in the Fifth Ward also featured razor-thin races. Margaret Fabrizio leads Michelle Song by a margin of only six votes for the four-year term and Clyde Lederman leads Jason Houghton by a margin of seven votes for the two-year term.

Houghton and Brock both secured independent ballot lines prior to the primary and will appear on the general election ballot.

Tuesday night’s returns do not include affidavit ballots and late absentee ballots.

Vaughn Golden has been reporting across New York since 2016. Working as a freelancer while studying journalism and economics at Ithaca College, Vaughn has reported for a number of outlets including the Albany Times Union, New York Post, and NPR among others. Prior to coming to WSKG full-time, Vaughn was a reporter for the Watertown Daily Times. Vaughn now covers government and politics for WSKG.