November 3rd was Election Day, and the contentious nature of the Presidential Election was felt in New York State’s Legislative and Congressional races as well. While many races were called on election night, there was also a large number of races that remained uncalled due to the large number of absentee ballots cast. Counting of absentee ballots began around the state on November 9th, and since then, several races have been called. Some results of note include:
New York State Senate
- Senate District 5: Democratic Senator James Gaughran, who initially trailed Republican challenger Edmund Smyth on election night managed to pull ahead and retain his seat after absentee ballots were counted.
- Senate District 6: Democratic Senator Kevin Thomas, who also trailed his challenger, Dennis Dunne, also managed to win his election after all absentee ballots were counted.
- Senate District 22: Senator Andrew Gounardes pulled out a narrow victory over Republican challenger Vito Bruno after absentee ballots were counted, keeping the seat in the Democrat’s hands.
- Senate District 38: Democrats managed to hold onto the district formerly represented by Senator David Carlucci, after Elijah Reichlin-Melnick managed to defeat Republican William Weber after the absentee ballots were counted.
- Senate District 45: The Senate Republicans will retain the seat held by Senator Betty Little after Assemblyman Dan Stec easily won his election against Democrat Kimberly Davis.
- Senate District 53: After leading by just over 130 votes on Election Night, Senator Rachel May managed to widen her lead over Republican Sam Rodgers by 11,000 votes after absentee ballots were counted, keeping the district Democratic.
- Senate District 55: Democrats flipped the seat held by outgoing Republican Senator Rich Funke after Samra Brouk defeated Republican Christopher Missick
- Senate District 56: Democrats also flipped the Republican district held by outgoing Senator Joe Robach after Jeremy Cooney defeated Republican Michael Barry by around 14,000 votes.
- Senate District 60: Democratic Assemblyman Sean Ryan helped the Democrats flip their third Republican seat, which was previously held by, now Representative Chris Jacobs, when he easily defeated Republican Joshua Mertzlufft.
New York State Assembly
- Assembly District 46: After absentee ballots were counted, first-term Democratic Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus managed to defeat Republican Mark Szuszkiewicz by just 398 votes.
- Assembly District 76: Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright, who was thrown off the Democratic ballot after technical errors with her petition paperwork, managed to hold onto her seat while running on the Rise and Unite Party line, defeating Republican Louis Puliafito
- Assembly District 97: In a shocking race, Republicans managed to flip the seat held by Assemblywoman Ellen Jaffee when Michael Lawler defeated the Assemblywoman by over 3,000 votes.
- Assembly District 135: Democrats managed to also flip a seat when Jennifer Lunsford defeated Republican incumbent Assemblyman Mark Johns.
New York Congressional Races
- NY-2: Republicans retained the seat held by outgoing Representative Peter King when Assemblyman Andrew Garbarino defeated Democrat Jackie Gordon.
- NY-11: Republicans flipped the 11th Congressional District after Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis defeated first-term Democratic incumbent Max Rose by over 37,000 votes.
- NY-19: After absentee ballots were counted, Democratic incumbent Antonio Delgado managed to hold onto his seat, defeating Republican Kyle Van De Water
While several races have been called, there are also several races that have not yet been called. Some of those races include:
Assembly
- Assembly District 4: Democratic incumbent Steven Englebright is currently trailing Republican Michael Ross by 1,966 votes. However, Democrats are confident that after all absentee ballots are counted (which have been skewing heavily in their favor) the Assemblyman will emerge victorious.
- Assembly District 10: Democratic incumbent Steve Stern ended election night just 56 votes behind Republican challenger Jamie Silvestri. Again, Democrats are confident the absentee ballot count will keep this seat in their hands.
Senate
- Senate District 1: Democrats are hoping that absentee ballots will put Laura Ahearn ahead of Republican Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo for the seat held by outgoing Senator Kenneth LaValle. However, it seems unlikely as she is currently trailing by almost 19,000 votes
- Senate District 3: First-term Democratic incumbent Senator Monica Martinez ended election night over 13,000 votes behind Republican challenger Alexis Weik. Democrats are also hoping absentee ballots will put the Senator ahead. However, the ground the Senator will need to make up is not exactly promising.
- Senate District 40: Democratic incumbent Peter Harckham ended election night just over 8,000 votes behind Republican Rob Astorino. Counting of absentee ballots for this race will begin on Friday, November 20th. Of the absentee ballots to count, it has been reported that they skew 3-to-1 Democratic, meaning that, if every Democratic ballot goes for Senator Harckham, he will need to win less than one-third of the ballots cast by unaffiliated voters to retain his seat, which has the Democrats confident this race will end in their favor.
- Senate District 42: First-term Democratic incumbent Jen Metzger ended election night over 10,000 votes behind Republican Mike Martucci. Martucci has declared victory, but Senator Metzger has not yet conceded, saying that she will wait until all absentee ballots are counted. However, if all absentee ballots fall along party lines, Senator Metzger will need to win more than 100% of ballots cast by unaffiliated voters to win, meaning it is likely this seat will flip back to Republican control.
- Senate District 46: Republican Rich Amedure ended the night ahead of Democrat Michelle Hinchey in the seat held by outgoing Republican Senator George Amedore. However, Democrats are hoping absentee ballots will help them flip this seat.
- Senate District 50: Democrats are hoping that John Mannion, who is currently trailing Republican Angi Renni, will pull ahead after absentee ballots are counted, flipping the seat in their favor. However, counting for this race has been put on hold until further notice after it was discovered there was a COVID-19 exposure at the Onondaga Board of Elections.
Congress
- NY-22: In one of the most hotly contested races in the State, Democratic incumbent Rep. Anthony Brindisi ended election night over 28,000 votes behind Republican Claudia Tenney, who is hoping to win back her seat in the U.S. House. However, since election night, absentee ballots have cut Tenney’s lead to just over 2,300 votes.
Currently, the Democrats have won 40 seats in the Senate, putting them just two seats away from holding a supermajority, while they have officially retained their supermajority in the Assembly.
We will continue to monitor the outstanding races and keep you informed of any results that are announced.