NEW YORK (AP) — Brooklyn Sen. John Sampson overcame a three-way challenge and a corruption indictment to win Tuesday’s Democratic primary by a double-digit percentage margin.
The 17-year incumbent will face two of those challengers again in the Nov. 4 general election, this time as the major-party favorite fending off a pair of third-party nominees.
Simpson, a 17-year incumbent, won 55.4 percent of the vote in the Democratic race Tuesday, with 81 percent of precincts counted in unofficial results.
Dell Smitherman, the labor leader backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, received 29.5 percent.
Homeless advocate Sean Henry took 11.5 percent. Community activist Elias Weir tallied 3.6 percent.
Tuesday’s primary only eliminated Henry from the general election.
Smitherman is on the Working Families ticket. Weir is representing the Conservative party.
Sampson was indicted in May 2013 on charges he embezzled $440,000 when he was a court-appointed referee watching over escrow accounts for foreclosure sales. He was also accused of funneling funds into his failed Brooklyn district attorney campaign.
Federal prosecutors charged Sampson in February with lying to the FBI after they said he denied asking a staff member to intervene in a tax issue involving a liquor store he co-owned.
Sampson has pleaded not guilty. His trial is scheduled for February.
