Exonerated Central Park Five member Yusef Salaam is poised to win a Democratic primary election for a city council seat in New York.
As of early Wednesday (June 28) morning, Salaam garnered nearly 51 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary for a Harlem city council seat against challengers Inez Dickens, who trailed substantially behind in second place, and Al Taylor, the Associated Press reports.
The city council race comes decades after the exoneration of Salaam and four other men who were wrongly convicted and jailed for the rape of a woman jogging in Central Park.
Many outlets haven’t officially declared a winner in the primary contest as absentee ballots continue to be counted. New York’s ranked-choice voting rules could still kick in if no candidate earns more than 50 percent of the total vote.
Still, Salaam declared victory on Tuesday (June 27) night and Dickens conceded.
“What has happened in this campaign has restored my faith in knowing that I was born for this,” Salaam said in a speech to his supporters. During the nearly seven years he was wrongfully imprisoned, Salaam said he was able to see the racially unjust criminal justice system from the “belly of the beast.”
“I am here because, Harlem, you believed in me,” he added.
If Salaam comes out victorious in the primary he is likely to win the general election as the district is unlikely to elect a Republican.
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