BREAKING NEWS!!!! ASSEMBLYMEMBER JOSE PERALTA HAS DEFEATED FORMER STATE SENATOR HIRMAN MONSERRATE WITH 68% OF THE VOTE

NYS Assemblymember Jose Peralta, the Democratic nominee, has defeated ousted Senator Hiram Monserrate in a special election to fill Monserrate's former seat. Peralta garnered 68% of the vote against Monserrate running on the "We Can Do It" Party ticket and a GOP nominee. Monserrate had been expelled from the Senate several weeks ago for domestic violence against a former girl friend, an incident which was caught on tape.

After the results were announced NYS Senator Antoine Thompson released the following statement:

"Jose Peralta has won the special election to fill a Queens State Senate seat with an unofficial 68 percent of the vote.  He will be sworn in on Wed., at 2:30pm.  As a leader on the Senate I was proud to help Peralta win on the Democratic line and look forward to working with him in the Senate. 

The Peralta victory restores the Democratic Party's 2 seat majority in the Senate. Monserrate had first gained prominent in June of last year when he temporarily defected to the Senate's GOP caucus. After weeks of confustion, he returned to the Democratic caucus in return for personal concessions only to see a majority of his colleagues of both parties vote to remove him for his personal behavior.