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Harlem, NY

Politics & Government

Yusef Salaam Declares Victory In Harlem Council Race, Reports Show

Yusef Salaam, a member of the Exonerated Central Park 5, has declared victory in the Harlem Council race, reported NY1.

Posted Tue, Jun 27, 2023 at 9:00 pm ET

Updated Tue, Jun 27, 2023 at 10:41 pm ET

Yusef Salaam has declared victory in the Harlem

HARLEM, NY — Yusef Salaam has declared victory in the much-talked about Harlem District 9 race to replace Kristin Richardson Jordan, according to NY1 reporter Emily Ngo.

Salaam has a significant lead over Dickens and Taylor with 96 percent of scanners reported as of 10:30 p.m., according to the Board of Election website's unofficial results.

Yusef Salaam: 50 percent (5,330 votes)

Inez Dickens: 25 percent (2,663 votes)

Al Taylor: 14 percent (1,532 votes)

Kristin Richardson Jordan: 9 percent (1,005 votes)

Salaam walked into Harlem Tavern a little before 10 p.m. with a celebratory crowd gathered outside, video from Jeff Coltin, political reporter for City and State, shows.

"What has happened on this campaign has restored my faith in knowing that I was born for this," Salaam said during his victory speech, according to Coltin. "I am not a seasoned politician. So therefore, this was not politics as usual."

Salaam, along with the rest of the "Central Park Five," — who were all Black and Latino minors — was wrongly convicted in 1990 for the rape of a white jogger in the famous Manhattan park.

In 2014, the group received a $41 million payout from the city, of which more than $7 million went to Salaam.

In the years since, Salaam was appointed to the board of the Innocence Project in 2018, which is a nonprofit committed to exonerating people who have been wrongfully convicted.