NYC Replaces Democrat With Democrat

NEW YORK (AP) -- Democrat Gregory Meeks, a lawyer and former narcotics
prosecutor who had been in the New York Assembly since 1992, is the newest
member of Congress.

Meeks won a special election Tuesday to fill the seat vacated by the Rev.
Floyd Flake, a fellow Democrat who had represented the 6th Congressional
seat in the borough of Queens since 1986. Flake, who resigned last year to
devote more time to church work, had endorsed Meeks.

Meeks received 14,565 votes, or 57 percent. State Sen. Alton Waldon Jr.,
who briefly held the seat before Flake, was second with 21 percent, or
5,200 votes. He ran on Conservative and Independence party lines.

Less than 10 percent of the middle-class district's 265,000 registered
voters cast ballots in Tuesday's special election.

Meeks, 44, said going to Washington was ``an awesome thought for a young
guy who grew up in public housing.''

``I believe the torch has been passed for a younger generation to make a
difference and lead this congressional district into the next millennium,''
he said.