NEW YORK -- Republican City Councilwoman Susan Molinari was elected to succeed her father in Congress, and Democratic State Assemblyman Jose Serrano won the seat vacated by a jailed Wedtech scandal defendant in one of the nation's poorest urban districts.
With all precincts reporting in the 18th Congressional District in the Bronx, Serrano won by a landslide of 92 percent, or 26,719 votes, compared with Simeon Golar, who polled 8 percent, or 2,027 votes.
Serrano will be the sole voting Puerto Rican member of Congress.
With all precincts reporting in the 14th Congressional District on Staten Island, Molinari tallied 60 percent, or 45,682 votes, compared with her closest rival, Democrat Robert Gigante, who had 34 percent, or 25,916 votes.
'I pledge tonight to concern myself with the quality of life issues that we've worked so hard on for the past four and a half years,' said Molinari.
The weather figured heavily in both contests as chilly rain kept turnout low.
Serrano joked that despite 'the rainiest election day' in memory, 'Here we are, a little bit damp, and a lotta bit happy.'
In the South Bronx, one of America's poorest urban districts, voters were asked to choose a successor to convicted Rep. Robert Garcia, D-N.Y., who was jailed in January for his part in the Wedtech scandal.
The race pitted the Democratic favorite, Serrano, against the Republican Golar, a former judge and city official in the administration of Mayor John Lindsay.
On Staten Island, Molinari, 31, the sole woman on the council, prevailed over lawyer Gigante, 41, in the race to succeed Molinari's father, a five-term House Republican.
The campaign was a test of wills between national Republicans eager to hold onto the seat and Democrats hoping to win it for the first time since the elder Molinari was first elected in 1981.
In Washington, a House historian said Molinari becomes the second woman in history to succeed her parent in the House. The first was an Illinois woman, Winnifried Huck, who was elected in 1922. Molinari also becomes the youngest current member of the House.
Serrano and Molinari will serve out the nine months remaining on the two-year terms of their predecessors.
Both congressional seats became vacant in January, when Garcia began serving his sentence at a federal prison in Florida following his criminal conviction and Molinari took over as Staten Island borough president.
Serrano won the backing of the county Democratic organization and organized labor. He also won endorsement of all the city's major newspapers as well as the support of Latino officials.
But just as important in the demographically shifting district, Serrano also won the enthusiastic backing of two top black leaders -- Mayor David Dinkins and Jesse Jackson.
Dinkins and Jackson actively campaigned for Serrano, with the mayor appearing in the district as recently as Sunday in a last-ditch bid to urge black residents to choose the Hispanic Democrat over Golar, who is black and Republican.
