Legislator, GOP Councilwoman Win N.Y. House Seats

Republican City Councilwoman Susan Molinari won her father’s old job and Democratic Assemblyman Jose Serrano was picked to replace a jailed lawmaker in special congressional elections.

Molinari, 31, will become the youngest member of Congress; Serrano, 46, will be the only Puerto Rican native to have full congressional voting rights.

The Tuesday elections filled seats vacated by Rep. Guy V. Molinari, a Republican who resigned to become Staten Island Borough president, and Rep. Robert Garcia, a Democrat who quit his South Bronx seat after his conviction in the Wedtech influence-peddling scandal.

In final returns from the Staten Island district, which includes a sliver of Brooklyn, Molinari had 28,236 votes, or 59%; Democrat Robert J. Gigante 16,593 votes, or 35%; Right-to-Life Party nominee Barbara Bollaert 2,581 votes, or 5%, and Liberal Party nominee Carl Grillo 437 votes, or 1%.

In the impoverished South Bronx district, Serrano had 26,728 votes, or 93%; Republican Simeon Golar 2,022 votes, or 7%, and Conservative Party nominee Kevin Brawley 118 votes, or less than 1%.

In Illinois, meanwhile, Rep. Gus Savage survived a sexual harassment scandal and a strong challenge to win the Democrat primary. With 95% of precincts reporting in the mostly black district, Savage had 39,602 votes, or 51%, and Mel Reynolds, who like Savage is black, had 33,472 votes, or 43%. A follower of extremist Lyndon H. LaRouche Jr. had 5%.

In Chicago, Nathaniel Clay, editor of Metro Press, a black-oriented weekly newspaper, said Savage has been hurt by a finding by the House Ethics Committee that the congressman had made improper sexual advances to a Peace Corps worker during a trip last year to Zaire.