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Democrats sweep City Council race

Moore top vote-earner in historic election; Eramo and Torres retain council seats

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Long Beach Democrats swept Tuesday’s election by a wide margin in a race that included a historic win by candidate Anissa Moore, who became the first African-American elected to the City Council and earned the most votes in the process.

Moore, a professor at Nassau Community College and the first black woman to run for City Council, received 3,249 votes, while two incumbents, Anthony Eramo and Council President Len Torres, had 3,181 and 3,018, respectively, according to the Nassau County Board of Elections. The top two vote-earners are elected to four-year terms and the third candidate with the most votes serves a two-year term

With the win, Democrats retain three seats and total control on the council. Council Vice President Fran Adelson did not seek re-election.

“I’m overwhelmed because this is a historic moment,” Moore told her supporters. “We’ve written a whole new chapter for the City of Long Beach, and what warms my heart is that we’ve done it together. In this election, the people have spoken and demonstrated the fact that they wanted change.

“It was time for a change,” she added. “There were many people in this city for many, many years that were kept out of the political process, that were kept away from the table. Now we can say today, in 2015, even though it took a very long time, we are turning a new page, we are writing a new chapter and we are doing things new. This is a new day for Long Beach.”

Marcus Tinker, a member of the Christian Light Baptist Church and a deacon-in-training, said Moore drew support from a diverse group of residents, but particularly those in the North Park area. “She didn’t run as a black candidate,” Tinker said. “She ran as a candidate for change and for everyone, not just the black community. She broke the color barrier, and she brings some much-needed diversity to the City Council and the North Park area as a whole. You have residents in the North Park who’ve lived there for 40 years but feel they never had a voice. Everyone is really excited about this because she will be a fresh face and voice on the City Council.”

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