New York City’s primary election had an anemic turnout – less than 5% – and yet produced two incredible upsets on Tuesday evening.

Yusef Salaam, a political newcomer and a member of the exonerated Central Park Five, made history to represent Harlem on the Democratic ballot for City Council in the general election – effectively upending one of the city’s most powerful political machines.

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, one of the Council’s best-known lefty firebrands, Charles Barron was fighting for his political life, while a longtime Democratic operative held a commanding lead in the hard-fought open seat to represent Sunset Park, according to unofficial results from the Board of Elections.

The biggest contest, it turned out, was uptown, where Yusef

 Salaam — wrongfully convicted, eventually exonerated and now in politics — held 50.% of the first round vote, with 99% of the scanners reporting, according to the Board of Elections.

That put him well ahead of the two members of the New York State Assembly he was competing against — Inez Dickens and Al Taylor — and potentially gave him a large enough margin to avoid a run-off under the ranked-choice voting system.

“This campaign has restored my faith in knowing that I was born for this,” Salaam told supporters at his campaign’s primary night party. “Every single thing that happens to you, happens for you.”

He added: “I am here because, Harlem, you believed in me.”

Across the East River, another political earthquake was brewing as incumbent Councilman Charles Barron — who, along with his wife, has represented East New York for more than two decades — sat in second place in the Democratic primary.

His challenger, Chris Banks, who netted several key union endorsements, scored 51% of the first round vote in District 42 with 99% of the precinct’s scanners reporting in.

Barron was 8 percentage points behind with 43% of the vote; while Jamilah Rose had 5%. Banks, too, looked likely to avoid a run-off.

Both Banks and Salaam would likely roll to victory in November due to the heavily Democratic nature of their districts.

Turnout was light across the five boroughs amid a lack of a hallmark citywide primary race to grab the attention of voters — many of whom live in districts where the only races on the ballot were for judges or local political party functionaries.

Fewer than half of the 51 members of the City Council drew a primary and just a handful of those races were considered serious by experts and observers. On Staten Island, there were no races for city office at all.

Meanwhile, registered Democrats in two boroughs — Queens and The Bronx — also had a chance to render their verdicts on their incumbent district attorneys Melinda Katz and Darcel Clark in the primaries.

Katz easily dispatched both of her challengers from the right and the left, scoring 71% of the vote, with 97% of the scanners tallied. Retired judge and ex-cop George Grasso got just 14 percent, while public defender Devian Daniels also got just 14 percent.

Clark cruised as well, defeating defense attorney Tess Cohen by nearly 50 percentage points, scoring 73% of the vote, with 98% of scanners reporting.

Salaam’s victory put an exclamation point on an extraordinary campaign that saw the district’s current representative Councilwoman Kristin Richardson Jordan drop out of the race just weeks earlier.

The race had gone down to the wire with candidates out shaking hands and battling for votes as voters went to the polls on Tuesday.

“He is a native son of Harlem. He’s now the prodigal son who has returned,” said Manhattan Democratic Party chairman Keith Wright on NY1, as the vote tallies rolled in. “We had a corps of volunteers that were just out of this world. And they were pounding the pavement every day.”

Wright backed Salaam and his son served as the campaign’s manager.

Taylor stood on the corner of West 134th Street pitching voters right alongside Salaam’s brother, Shareef.

There was much less drama in Lower Manhattan, where District 1 incumbent Councilman Christopher Marte cruised to victory, netting 63% of the first round vote.

BROOKLYN

The fierce fight to represent Brooklyn’s newly created 43rd district — which is anchored in Sunset Park and includes Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights — turned into something of a blow-out in the end.

Longtime Democratic operative Susan Zhuang held a commanding 59% in the first round of voting, easily beating the two other Asian Americans candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, with 98% of the scanners reporting.

Social services executive Wai Yee Chane scored 31% in the partial returns, while education advocate Stanley Ng got 10%.

While Barron appeared to be in deep trouble, another long-time figure in Brooklyn politics who received an unexpectedly strong challenge appeared to be cruising to victory in the district next door.

Brownsville Councilwoman Darlene Mealy scored 62% in the first round of voting to continue representing District 41; double the 29% that Isis McIntosh Green got.

In southern Brooklyn, Republicans went to the polls to pick their candidate to challenge Democratic Councilman Justin Brannan, the head of the budget committee, to represent the newly merged 47th District at City Hall.

They overwhelmingly picked Councilman Ari Kagan, who’s district was partially combined into the one represented by Brannan to face off against the powerful Democrat.

In 2021, Brannan held on to narrowly win re-election amid a Republican wave in the outer-boroughs but the GOP is hopeful it can put the seat in play once again.

QUEENS

In Northeast Queens, former State Sen. Tony Avella’s bid for a rematch against incumbent Republican Councilwoman Vickie Paladino appeared to be in jeopardy late Tuesday.

Avella was sitting with just 39% of the first round vote, just 2 percentage points ahead of Christopher Bae, a former Queens prosecutor and first generation Korean-American, BOE tallies showed with 97% of scanners back.

The third candidate, urban planner Paul Graziano, pulled in 24% of the first round vote in District 19.

That means there are likely a substantial number of ballots in play under the ranked choice voting system for either Avella or Bae, provided voters who backed Graziano marked a second or third choice.

Democrats have pegged the home-owner rich district as one they believe they can win back in November.

Paladino defeated Avella in 2021 amid a wave of anger in the district over the city’s then-rising crime numbers and a now-abandoned proposal by then-Mayor Bill de Blasio to ditch entrance tests for the Big Apple’s selective public high schools.

BRONX

The Republican primary to challenge incumbent Democratic lawmaker Marjorie Velázquez in the East Bronx was too close to call on Tuesday.

Partial returns showed Kristy Marmorato — an X-ray technician and the sister of county Republican Chairman Michael Rendino — with a narrow lead of 48% to 44% over George Havranek, who is the president of the Spencer Estate Civic Association.

Hasime “Samatha” Zherka — a candidate for state Senate last year who is a construction business owner with deep ties to the area’s sizable Albanian community — netted just 8 percent.

Velázquez cruised through the Democratic primary, easily beating Irene Estrada, the chairwoman of Bronx Community Board 11; neighborhood activist Bernadette Ferrara and Army vet John Perez.