New York City Council In 2001, Avella was first elected to the
New York City Council in Queens'
District 19. He was the first Democrat elected to his relatively conservative district.
2009 campaign for Mayor of New York City In 2009, the City Council passed legislation extending officeholder term limits from two terms to three at Mayor
Michael Bloomberg's request, a decision Avella criticized. He opted not to run for a third term, instead running for
mayor of New York City. commercial rent control for small businesses and against overdevelopment and Mayor Bloomberg's rezonings. In the
Democratic primary election, Avella was defeated by
New York City Comptroller Bill Thompson, coming in second place with 21% of the vote to Thompson's 71%.
New York State Senate In the
2010 elections, Avella ran for the
11th district of the
New York State Senate, covering some of the same areas as his former City Council seat. On November 2, 2010, Avella defeated
Frank Padavan, the 38-year Republican incumbent, winning 53-47%. Avella, running on a campaign of independence and reform in Albany, received the endorsement of the powerful
United Federation of Teachers, the first time it endorsed a challenger in lieu of an incumbent. The freshman senator was appointed ranking member of the Cities and Environmental Conservation Committees, and has at various points served on the Education, Aging, Banking, and Veterans, Homeland Security, Military Affairs Committees, Children and Families, Social Services, Cultural Affairs, Elections, Environmental Conservation, Finance, Housing, Transportation, and Libraries Select Committees, as well the Senate Task Force on the Delivery of Social Services to New York City. He was also a ranking member of the Aging Committee. On November 26, 2012, Avella announced he would enter the race for
Queens Borough President. On August 14, 2013, he dropped out of the race. In February 2014, Avella joined the
Independent Democratic Conference, a group of senate Democrats that allied themselves with the Senate Republican Conference, creating a coalition that controlled the Senate. At the time, Democrats held a numerical majority in the Senate, but the IDC-Republican coalition prevented Democrats from holding power, while allowing Avella and other IDC members to gain committee chairships. For joining the majority coalition, Avella could potentially gain committee leadership positions and associated stipends, though he said he would turn down stipends, which he also did during his tenure in the City Council. and in 2015 was named Chair of the Committee on Children and Families. In September 2014, former
New York City Comptroller John Liu challenged Avella in the Democratic primary for State Senate District 11; Avella and Liu had previously served together in the City Council, representing neighboring districts, and the two had a strained relationship. Avella ultimately won with 52% of the vote to Liu's 47%. Liu criticized Avella for joining the IDC; Avella criticized Liu over the latter's campaign finance scandal that saw two of Liu's aides convicted, Liu's failure to pay fines from his earlier campaign for Comptroller, and Liu's record as Comptroller. Liu was initially supported by the
Working Families Party, by the Queens County Democratic Party and by several unions, After Republicans gained an outright majority in the State Senate in the 2014 elections, the IDC continued to caucus with the Republicans. In April 2018, Avella and his IDC colleagues rejoined the Senate Democratic Conference. Subsequently, the Republican conference stripped Avella of his position as Chair of the Committee on Children and Families. Despite the dissolution of the IDC, Liu once again challenged Avella in the September 2018 Democratic primary election. In a reversal of their 2014 race, Avella lost with 47% of the vote to Liu's 53%, attributed to long-simmering anger at the former members of the Independent Democratic Conference. Unlike in 2014, the Queens County Democratic Party endorsed Avella instead of Liu. Avella appeared in the November 6, 2018 general election as the third-party candidate for the
Independence Party of New York and the
Women's Equality Party. On June 23, 2021, Avella won the Democratic primary for the seat. As this was the first election to use
ranked-choice voting in New York City, final results were not certified until July 20. Avella won 38.1% of the votes in the first round of voting and ended with 54.7% of the votes that continued into the fourth and final round. On November 2, 2021, Avella was defeated in the general election by Republican
Vickie Paladino. Due to the 2020 Census, another New York City Council election cycle had to occur in 2023 because the council district lines were redrawn. Avella again lost to Paladino on Election Day 2023. ==References==