District 51 covers the South Shore of Staten Island, including the neighborhoods of Great Kills, Tottenville, Annadale, Huguenot, Rossville, Pleasant Plains, Eltingville, Bay Terrace, Charleston, Prince's Bay, Richmond Valley, Woodrow, Arden Heights, Greenridge, and parts of Heartland Village and New Springville.

Like all municipal special elections in New York City, the race is officially nonpartisan, with all candidates running on ballot lines of their own creation.

[6] In 2019, voters in New York City approved Ballot Question 1, which implemented ranked-choice voting in all local primary and special elections.

If one candidate surpasses 50 percent in first-choice votes, then ranked-choice tabulations will not occur.

Two special elections were called to fill his seat: one nonpartisan primary to fill the seat until December 31, 2016, followed by a standard partisan primary and general election to take place in 2016 to complete the remainder of his term.