Jeff Lewis

It was a historic night in Rockland, the Hudson Valley and for the country, as Rockland’s Congressional race remained red with Republican incumbent Mike Lawler defeating former Congressman Mondaire Jones. New York’s proposition to codify protections in the constitution passed easily, and it looks like it’ll be just the second time in U.S. history that a president has won a second non-consecutive term. The big local race was for Congress, as the nation’s eyes were on the 17th district to see if it could be flipped to blue. But Mike Lawler prevailed, earning his second term in Washington…

Lawler topped Jones by a nearly eight-percent margin.

In the 38th New York State Senate District, in their third head-to-head race, Republican Bill Weber was re-elected with 52 percent of the vote to Elijah Reichlin-Melnick’s 45 percent.

In the 40th State Senate District, Incumbent Democrat Pete Harckham held on to his seat against Republican Gina Arena by a six-percent margin.

In New York Assembly District 96, formerly Ken Zebrowski’s seat, covering Clarkstown, Haverstraw and Nyack, remained blue with Clarkstown Councilman for Ward Four, Democrat Patrick Carroll, getting 59 percent of the vote over Republican Ronald Diz with 41 percent.

District 97 will have a new Assemblyman, with Ramapo legislator Democrat Aron Wieder getting 52 percent, defeating incumbent Republican John McGowan who got 44 percent. Thomas Sullivan on the Conservative line got just 4 percent.

District 99 which covers Stony Point and portions of Orange County, returned Democrat Chris Eachus to the Assembly, defeating Republican Tom Lapolla by an 11-point margin.

U.S. Senator from New York, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, easily won re-election by a 16 percent margin over Republican Michael Sapraicone.

Here in New York, vice-president Kamala Harris took the state’s electoral votes, but lost in Rockland by an 11 percent margin to former President Donald Trump.

Local Races
Incumbent Republican Jon Valentino, who replaced the late Mark Woods last summer, trailed the Democratic challenger Mark Licker for Clarkstown’s Town Council Ward 1 seat by just 111 votes, just a one percentage point difference.

In the race for Clarkstown Town Justice, Democrat Keith Braunfotel easily defeated Republican Darren Epstein.

A seat on the Orangetown Town Council went to incumbent Republican Dan Sullivan with 53 percent over Democrat Chrissy Knapp with 47 percent.

In the Village of Sloatsburg, Trustee Thomas Donnelly won re-election and he was joined on the board by fellow Republican Susie McDonagh.

Judges
In the 9th Judicial District for State Supreme Court Justice, five Democrats won their seats:
· Collene Duffy, Brett Broge, Kyle McGovern, Mary Anne Scattaretico-Naber, Rachel Tanguay

Other Judicial Races:

· Haverstraw Town Justice – George Coffinas
· Village of West Haverstraw Justice – Richard Pakola, Jr.
· Ramapo Town Justice – Alejandra Silva Exias
· Village of Sloatsburg Justice – Jerome Jefferson
· Rockland Family Court Judge – Andrea Composto
· Rockland County Court Judges – David Ascher and Djinsad Desir

Democrat Justin Sweet easily defeated Thomas Mascola for Village of Spring Valley Justice with 94 percent of the vote

Uncontested Local Elections
· State Assembly District 98 – Republican Karl Brabenec
· Rockland County Clerk – Democrat Donna Silberman
· Village of Nyack Trustee – Pascale Jean-Gilles and Donna Lightfoot Cooper
· Village of Piermont Trustees – Nathan Mitchell and Christine McAndrews
· Village of Suffern Trustees – Angela Hogue and Steven Alpert
· Village of Sloatsburg Mayor – Darrell Frasier
· Village of Haverstraw Trustees – Joel Santana and Richard Sena
· Village of West Haverstraw Trustee – Peter Eckert

Proposition One (Rockland: 51% against, 49% for)
New Yorkers passed Proposition One, enshrining abortion rights and anti-discrimination language into the state constitution with 57 percent of the vote state-wide.

Proposition Two (Village of Suffern)
A proposal in the village of Suffern to increase the Suffern Fire Department Length of Service Award Program was overwhelmingly supported with 83 percent of the vote.

Proposition Two (Stony Point)
A referendum to increase Stony Point’s Annual Contribution to the Rose Memorial Library Association’s Operating Budget by $1,100,000 to a total of $1,425,000 is too close to call. 50.1 percent voted yes while 49.9 percent voted no, that’s out of 7,561 votes cast, separated by just 15 votes.

Other Races of note
Westchester County Executive Democrat George Latimer defeated Republican Miriam Levitt Flisser in the 16th Congressional District, covering the north Bronx and southern Westchester, keeping that seat blue. Latimer defeated incumbent Jamaal Bowman in the primary earlier this year.

New York’s 18th Congressional District, which includes all of Orange County, and most of Dutchess and Ulster Counties, will be returning the incumbent to the U.S. House of Representatives. Incumbent Congressman Democrat Pat Ryan defeated Republican Alison Esposito.

New York’s 19th Congressional District, Democrat Josh Riley and Republican incumbent Marc Molinaro were separated by just one percent, with Riley leading. The 19th includes Columbia, Greene, Sullivan, and parts of Ulster and several capital region counties. Molinaro, who hails from Yonkers, lost the race for governor against former governor Andrew Cuomo in 2018.

Today is Election Day and by the end of the day we may, or may not, know who the next President of the United States will be, and, of course, there are local elections as well. We’ve got races for Congress, US Senate, State Senate and Assembly, and several local contested and uncontested elections. Early voting ended Sunday, yesterday was a day to rest and today is the big day for those who haven’t voted yet. Clarkstown Supervisor George Hoehmann says the crowds in his town for early voting sometimes waited for over an hour…

Rockland County Executive Ed Day says voting is a right that we shouldn’t take for granted…

So, you can probably expect lines again today, depending on the time you go. If you have an “Early Vote by Mail” ballot or an Absentee ballot, you can still return them in-person to the Board of Elections by 9PM tonight, or they must be postmarked today. The secure drop box at the Board of Elections will be closed promptly tonight at 9PM. For voting in-person, the polls opened today at 6AM and will close tonight at 9PM.