Ritchie Torres and Andrew Cohen, two of the most widely-endorsed and institutionally-backed candidates in the Bronx, sailed to easy victories in two hotly contested City Council Democratic primaries, according to early election votes released last night.

In the 11th Council District, which includes much of the northwest Bronx including Norwood, Riverdale, Woodlawn and parts of Wakefield, Bedford Park and Kingsbridge Heights, Cohen was backed by most Bronx officials, prominent mayoral candidates and an army of unions. Cohen, who was also endorsed by current Councilman Oliver Koppell, easily beat out Cliff Stanton, a businessman and local activist, taking 67.75 percent of the vote, compared to 32.25 for Stanton.

In the 15th Council District, which includes Fordham-Bedford, Belmont and parts Tremont, Crotona and West Farms, the 25-year-old Torres’ strong support from his former boss, east Bronx councilman Jimmy Vacca, launched his campaign into relevance early in the year.

On the campaign trail, he picked up the backing of most unions, several political groups and some high-profile Bronx officials on his way to emerging from a crowded group of Democratic candidates. Those candidates included current Councilman Joel Rivera’s chief of staff, Albert Alvarez, and another candidate whose name is Joel Rivera.

Torress took 36.05 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results released by the Board of Elections, while Joel Ray Rivera came in a distant second, with 21.8 percent. Cynthia Thompkins finished third with 20.74 percent of the vote and Alvarez took fourth with just 9.22 percent. Raquel Batista (7.30 percent) and the Rev. Joel Bauza (5.51 percent) also received votes.

Torres becomes the first openly gay candidate to win a Democratic primary in any major Bronx political race. He’s poised to become the borough’s first gay elected official.

Working independently of the candidates, Jobs for New York, a political action committee backed by the powerful real estate lobbying, played a big role in both the 11th and 15th District races, pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars on support for Torres and Cohen and against their opponents (in the 15th, that spending went against Joel R. Rivera).

Cohen, Torres and the other Democratic primary winners in City Council races — Fernando Cabrera (14th District), Vanessa Gibson (16th), Andy King (12th), Annabel Palma (18th) and Maria del Carmen Arroyo (17th) — are almost assured of winning the general election in November. In the Bronx, Democrats outnumber Republicans 11-1.

In perhaps the most competitive Democratic primary in the entire city, the Bronx’s 86th Assembly District, which includes University Heights and Morris Heights, Victor Pichardo holds a slim 64-vote lead over Hector Ramirez with 90 percent of precincts reporting. Two other candidates, Haile Rivera and Yudelka Tapia, are within six percentage points of Pichardo. The 86th District opened up when Nelson Castro resigned from office earlier this year.

Bill de Blasio easily took the Democratic primary for mayor, but it’s still unclear if he reached the 40 percent threshold to avoid a run-off with second-place candidate Bill Thompson. Council Speaker Christine Quinn finished a distant third.

For preliminary results in other city races, visit WNYC.org.

All of the results still need to be certified by the Board of Elections, which could take up to two weeks.

More on all of these races, including the scene at Torres’ victory party, coming soon.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.