The Democratic Party establishment, running parallel with the rest of the City, was hit with a blue tsunami on primary day as state Sen. Jeff Klein, a long term political fixture in the Bronx and former leader of the Independent Democratic Conference (IDC) lost to newcomer Alessandra Biaggi, along with four former IDC members.

Klein, who had spent $2 million weeks before the Sept. 13 primary, did not appear to address supporters at Maestro’s Caterers in Morris Park,  with many holding out until midnight before leaving. Unofficial tallies showed Biaggi had more than 53 percent of the vote over Klein’s more than 44 percent. Biaggi’s win puts her as the Democratic nominee for the November General Election. With the Bronx overwhelmingly Democrat, Biaggi’s win is a lock. 

Campaign spokesperson David Neudstadt said Klein had attempted to reach Biaggi after the results were announced but cannot confirm if he and Biaggi spoke.

The majority of Biaggi’s support came from her home town of Pelham, in Westchester County, and in Riverdale. Klein lead in every Assembly District except AD 81, which includes Riverdale. There Biaggi won by over 4,500 votes. The neighborhood was one of her final stops on Election Day, spotted on West 235th Street by Henry Hudson Parkway around 8 p.m.

Biaggi, who arrived to Bronx Alehouse at 10:30 p.m., was welcomed by an electrified base of supporters with bombastic chants of “Biaggi! Biaggi! Biaggi!” “If this does not prove that the political currency of our time is people over money, I don’t know what does,” she said. “We have now cut the head off the IDC snake.”

Before the victor arrived, followers crowded around televisions were filled with nerves of excitement. The first poll showed Klein up by more than three percentage points but they were optimistic of how close the race was. “I can tell the enthusiasm is different. There’s a change in the air,” said Tom Watson, a not-for-profit consultant who also covered Biaggi’s grandfather, Mario Biaggi, for the Riverdale Press, the local newspaper covering Riverdale.

Campaign volunteer Steve Real spoke enthusiastically of Biaggi and disapprovingly of Klein. “I hate what the IDC has done and Jeff Klein is not representing his constituents,” he said. “We need someone like Biaggi who will represent its constituents with progressive beliefs.”

Strong support came from the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), often referred to as 32BJ, which had six hundred people canvassing for the first-time candidate, according to spokesperson Eugenio Villasante. “We knocked on ten thousand doors and made over five thousand phone calls,” he said. “We have seen a lot of excitement. People in the Bronx support Biaggi in very high numbers.”

A former member of the Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign team and the Governor Andrew Cuomo administration, Biaggi garnered progressive acclaim and endorsements. Gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez all endorsed Biaggi.

State Sen. Gustavo Rivera, representing the 33rd Senate District, also stopped by to share his support for the results. “I knew from the very beginning that [the IDC] was the wrong thing to do,” said Rivera. “It took away the ability of us, of Democrats who lead in a real way. That’s over.”

By 10:20 p.m., the crowd at Maestro’s began to thin out as word spread that Klein had left the building.

The loss is a tremendous blow for the Bronx, which benefited from Klein’s millions of dollars in state funding he earmarked to local civic associations, schools, and capital projects across the 34th Senate District, which he represented since 2005. The loss will surely compromise future allocations.

As the returns came in, a Klein supporter was spotted crying.

Klein’s loss also deals a blow to the Bronx Democratic Party, which, in a matter of months, lost another political heavyweight. The first was Congressman Joe Crowley, the fourth-highest-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, who lost his race to Ocasio-Cortez.

Marcos Crespo, chair of the Bronx Democratic Party, was unavailable for comment.

He was there to usher Karines Reyes as the Democratic nominee for the 87th Assembly District, who won against challenger Navy Sgt. John Perez.

“Tonight has included some happiness and some sadness,” Reyes said. “We all have to band together regardless of what our position is and really, really respond to the needs of our community.”

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