Races for state seats and congressional seats edged on the side of the Republican Party. But Democrats still control New York State government.
Republicans in New York looked to have picked up three congressional seats including Claudia Tenney in NY-22 and New York State Assembly Member Andrew Garbarino in NY-2.
However, the biggest GOP pickup went to New York Republican Assembly Member Nicole Malliotakis beating Democratic incumbent Max Rose by a 58 to 42% margin. But as of Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 4, Rose hadn’t conceded NY-14 and demanded that all votes be counted.
Malliotakis spoke to supporters late Tuesday night and declared victory calling the result a referendum on what issues Rose threw his support behind.
“This race was about the brave men and women of the NYPD and all our law enforcement and first responders,” Malliotakis said. “This is one elected official who will always have their back.” Malliotakis thanked police unions for endorsing her early in the race and called out Rose for not supporting them enough.
Conservatives also took aim at Rose’s decision to march with Black Lives Matter activists in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. Rose defended his actions.
“Black parents worry a chance encounter could end with their baby boy or girl never coming home,” said Rose during a Facebook-streamed address. “And yes, the wife or husband of a police officer feels their heart leave their chest every time a tour starts, scared the love of their life may never walk back through the door. Only in our broken politics would it be controversial to believe both are legitimate fears.”
While most focused on the Malliotakis/Rose race, there were others in the state that featured a few surprising results.
As of Wednesday, New York State Senate Republican challenger Mike Martucci led Democratic incumbent Sen. Jen Metzger in the race for the 42nd Senate District: a seat Metzger won in 2018. With 100% of precincts reporting Martucci has 49,269 voted compared to Metzger’s 41,351 votes.
Jen Metzger addressed her constituents after finding out that, while the race was still too close to call, she trailed.
“It has been my joy and honor to serve the 42nd Senate District over the last two years. It’s so important that we make sure every vote is counted,” said Metzger to those in attendance. “There are about 25,000 absentee ballots to count, and we know that they are overwhelmingly from Democratic voters. We expect the process of counting absentees to be an orderly process that will take several weeks, and we will patiently await the final results. I hope to have the opportunity to continue to fight for the communities I represent.”
Despite votes still being tallied, Republican State Senate challenger former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino held a lead over Democratic incumbent Pete Harckham in the 40th Senate District that includes parts of northern Westchester and Dutchess and Putnam counties. While Astorino holds a 53 to 47% lead over Harckham, there are still thousands of absentee ballots that haven’t been counted yet.
In better news for Democrats, Ritchie Torres became the first openly gay, Black member of Congress with his defeat over Patrick Delices for NY-15 and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez kept her NY-14 congressional seat.
New York State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins attempted to look on the bright side of the Democratic life noting that the party still controls the State Senate.
“Despite a difficult night for many Democratic candidates throughout the state and nation, the Senate Democratic Conference comfortably retained our majority and will be welcoming a historic group of new upstate Democrats to the Senate,” stated Stewart-Cousins “With the record high number of outstanding absentee ballots that are overwhelmingly Democratic, we will add even more victories to our majority as the vote counts continue. The Senate Democratic Majority will continue to lead New York State forward as we recover from this pandemic and economic crisis.”
NYGOP chairperson Nick Langworthy called it a good night for political conservatives and another step to New York realizing that their way is the best way.
“We did this in spite of a mainstream media and political money class who were aiding Democrats every step of the way,” said Langworthy in an emailed letter to GOP supporters. “We did this because we stayed focused on the issues that matter to New Yorkers like supporting our police, repealing the dangerous new bail law and respecting hardworking taxpayers. Our mission is far from over––we are just getting started but last night’s results were a huge success.
“We are rebuilding, retooling and revitalizing the NYGOP so that we can turn the entire state of New York RED,” said Langworhty.