While the rest of the country is discussing some pretty polar shifts in state election results, New York had a few of its own yesterday.
County Executives
In the biggest news, New York State Senator George Latimer (D) unseated two-term Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino by a margin of about 14 percent. On Facebook this morning, Latimer attributed his win to “a Blue Wave last night, churned up by reaction to The Year of Donald Trump, but the Indivisibles who worked so hard and the Democratic Party activists and base who were insistent on change helped us ride The Wave.”
Also within the Hudson Valley, Rockland and Orange County executives Ed Day (R) and Steven Neuhaus (R) both won reelection. Rensselaer County has yet to announce an official winner as of 11 a.m. Wednesday, but the race was close. The New York Daily News reports democrat Andrea Smyth ahead with 31% of votes being counted, however an unofficial count on the Rensselaer County government website indicates a win for Republican Steve McLaughlin by about 2 percent of the vote, some 900 votes.
Supreme Court
Democrats appear to have swept all State Supreme Court elections in New York this year, including Ulster County native Julian Schreibman in District 3 (the Northern Hudson Valley) and Judge Christi Acker in District 9 (Westchester and the lower Hudson Valley).
Mayoral
Minor mayoral news in major cities: Democrats Katherine Sheehan and Thomas Roach have both won reelection as mayors of Albany and White Plains, respectively. Andre Rainey, a Democrat, is the next Peekskill Mayor. He defeated two-term Republican incumbent Frank Catalina, 51 percent to 49 percent. At 33, he will be the youngest mayor in Peekskill history.
State Proposals
Firstly, there will be no constitutional convention. The proposal was shot down by a margin greater than five-to-one. The proposal to amend articles to permit the decrease or forfeiture of government pensions for those convicted of felonies that affected their office was approved by approximately three-to-one. More narrowly, the proposal was passed to allow for a “bank” of protected lands that would allow cities and municipalities to “buy” new land to offset land that would be damaged or removed during roadway and select utility maintenance. This measure passed by only a 4 percent margin.
