New York.- Hiram Monserrate, who was expelled from the New York State Senate after being convicted of assaulting his companion, was handily defeated on Tuesday by José R. Peralta, who becomes the third Dominican to reach Albany’s top echelon, after judges Rolando Acosta, of the Court of Appeals, and Diccia Pineda, of the Supreme Court.

Peralta celebrated winning the special election in Queens for Monserrate’s former Senate seat, with his son Matthew on Tuesday night in that borough, The New York Times reports.

It said the victory wasn’t unexpected given the level of organized Democratic support for Peralta, an assemblyman from Queens. “Mr. Peralta also had a huge financial advantage over Mr. Monserrate, who ran as an independent and tried to persuade voters to give him another chance to represent them in Albany.”

“Still, the election followed a fierce, if brief, campaign in which a debate over same-sex marriage, which Mr. Peralta favors and Mr. Monserrate opposes, often overshadowed discussions on issues that are vital to many of the largely Hispanic district’s working-class and immigrant residents, like affordable health care and school overcrowding,” The New York Times said.

With 94 percent of the vote counted, unofficial returns from the overwhelmingly Democratic 13th State Senate District showed Peralta with 66 percent to Monserrate’s 27 percent. The Republican candidate, Robert Beltrani, an administrative law judge, came in third with 7 percent, the New York City daily aid.

“Tonight we put an end to dysfunction,” Mr. Peralta told a crowd at a restaurant in East Elmhurst. “Our nightmare is over.”