A year after John Mulaney and Saturday Night Live turned him into a punchline, Harvey Epstein has handily won New York’s District 2 City Council seat.
With nearly 98% of the votes tallied, the real-life New York State Assemblyman—who was played by Mulaney on SNL—leads Tuesday’s general election with a commanding 78% of votes.
As the city leans heavily Democratic, Epstein’s win seemed all but ensured following last spring’s primary election, when he faced four other Democratic candidates—including former U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner. (Epstein’s Republican challenger in the general election, Jason Murillo, won just 16% of the vote.)
Epstein’s surprise name-recognition boost came a year ago this week, when SNL ran a fake campaign ad for his City Council bid. “I’m not going to lie,” Mulaney-as-Epstein confessed in the sketch. “The name thing has become a bit of an issue. ‘Harvey’ I could almost handle. But ‘Epstein’—this thing is an albatross.”
Mulaney’s character, of course, was acknowledging the obvious: he happens to share a full name with both Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein. “Look, is my name ideal? Of course not,” he said. “But thankfully I’m a different guy.”
The real Epstein, watching from home, was shocked but amused. “Funny, well-executed, and a little freaky,” he later told reporters.
The newly elected councilmember apparently remains an SNL viewer. Posting to X on Sunday, he shared a short clip from this weekend’s NYC mayoral debate cold open, which saw Kenan Thompson play hyperlocal NY1 anchor Errol Lewis.
“I have to disagree with @nbcsnl,” he captioned the clip. “I was the least famous person to be impersonated on SNL, not Errol.”
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Congratulations to Harvey Epstein. An extraordinary public servant who devotes every single day to improving the life of his constituents in particular and the common good of all New Yorker in general. He has been an exemplary Assemblyman. Transitioning to the City Council will hopefully one day land him at Gracie Mansion. District 2 is so lucky to have him.