Donovan regrets nothing

 

 QNS

Hours after he declared victory over Elizabeth Crowley in the Democratic primary for Queens borough president Tuesday, July 6, incumbent Borough President Donovan Richards posted a cryptic tweet that mystified many.

“We won!!!” he tweeted after the city Board of Elections released figures that counted ranked-choice voting with absentee ballots that showed Richards ahead of Crowley by 1,044 votes.

“We beat your racist ass” Richards then tweeted while referencing Crowley allegedly telling him that “she would win, because BLM would die?” and “you couldn’t force me to make you a deb bp. I stand on principle.”

The tweets were met with messages of support, as well as comments that were critical of Richards’ messaging.

On Wednesday, Richards provided QNS with a statement, in which he was unapologetic.

“As a Black man, I faced my own fair share of prejudice and I will not be silent when racist tactics are clearly at play,” Richards said in a statement released through his campaign. “Since our victory in the June 2020 Democratic primary, Ms. Crowley has repeatedly insinuated that she would have won if not for the death of George Floyd and the ensuing Black Lives Matter movement across our country. She later attempted to bully me into giving her a job within our administration with veiled threats of a divisive and dirty campaign if I did not. She clearly followed through on that threat, using the politics of fear throughout this race with mailers disguised as eviction notices and racist dog whistles within her messages on public safety.”

“I’m proud of the positive campaign we ran throughout this election,” Richards concluded. “The people of Queens voted for me to get the job done. Now let’s get back to work.”

Crowley was outraged by Donovan’s accusations.

“I’m extremely disappointed by the slanderous and untruthful remarks made by one of my opponents,” Crowley said in a statement Wednesday. “Politics and campaigning can be tough, and I understand that some may take legitimate policy disagreements personally on the trail. However, I’ve always believed that leadership is about taking the high road and representing the people, not Trump-like bullying on Twitter and making unfounded accusations based on no evidence whatsoever.”