New York Daily News

Perkins reclaims old Council seat

- BY KENNETH LOVETT

ALBANY — State Sen. Bill Perkins is heading back to his roots on the City Council.

Perkins (D-Harlem) Tuesday night easily won his old seat in a nine-way special election to replace Inez Dickens, who left for the state Assembly in January.

With 97.85% of the votes reported, Perkins had a more than 15-point lead over his closest opponent, Marvin Holland.

Elected to the Senate in 2006, Perkins (photo) previously spent eight years on the City Council, having served as deputy majority leader.

He will immediatel­y resign his Senate seat, and get a bump in pay. City Council members make $148,500 a year while state lawmakers are paid a base salary of $79,500, and Perkins did not get a significan­t raise during his decade in the Legislatur­e.

His departure from the Senate means the mainline Democrats are now down to 22 members in the 63-member chamber since there are nine breakaway Democrats who have aligned with the GOP.

Gov. Cuomo can call for a special election to fill Perkins’ Senate seat, but the earliest that could take place would be in mid-April, several weeks after the state budget deadline. If Cuomo does not call a special election, a vote would automatica­lly take place in November to fill the seat. To keep his seat in the city, Perkins will have to run again in the fall for a four-year term.

He has Mayor de Blasio’s backing. “Welcome back and well deserved win #billperkin­s,” Emma Wolfe, a top de Blasio aide, tweeted out Tuesday night.

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