Democrat Sam Berger won a special election for a state Assembly seat in Queens, in a race where public safety and migrant shelters were top campaign issues.

Berger, a 25-year-old law school graduate, beat David Hirsch. With almost all of the ballots counted, unofficial results showed Berger with a 55% to 45% lead as of Tuesday night.

The Queens district covers Whitestone, College Point and Kew Gardens Hills.

With Berger's victory, Democrats held onto the seat. Berger ran as a moderate who campaigned in favor of changes to criminal justice reforms.

The seat opened when Daniel Rosenthal, a Democrat, resigned from the Assembly to take a job with UJA-Federation, a Jewish philanthropic group.

Democrats now have 102 seats in the Assembly. Republicans have 48.