News Blog

Last night was a good night for incumbents and, for the most part, the Democratic and Republican parties' endorsed candidates.Take City Council as an example. All three incumbents who sought another term won it fairly easily: Mike Patterson in the Northeast District, defeating Eugenio Cotto with 76.13 percent of the votes ; Adam McFadden in the South District (67.8 percent), defeating Ann Lewis; and Elaine Spaull (70.37 percent), defeating Lisa Jacques in the East District.

McFadden will face Lewis again in the November election, since she's running on an independent line, and Green Party candidate Alex White. Spaull faces Green Party candidate Anthony Giordano in the general election and Clifford faces Green Party candidate Dorothy Paige.

In the Northwest District, longtime Democratic activist and former city official Molly Clifford had a tenser night, with challenger LaShana Boose in the lead as many of the polling sites reported. But with all of the returns in, the Board of Election’s unofficial results show Clifford winning, with 51.25 percent of the votes and Boose 48.32. (This race was for an open seat; incumbent Carla Palumbo didn’t seek re-election.)

In Henrietta, incumbent Town Supervisor Jack Moore received 85 percent of the ballots and clobbered his challenger, William Wu. The town’s Republican voters apparently weren’t turned off by the controversy around Moore, who earlier this year was recorded making racially insensitive remarks during a conversation with town employees.

Moore will face Democratic candidate Mike Yudelson and independent candidate Glenda Rudolph in the November election. Moore and Yudelson squared off in 2013, when Yudelson was supervisor.

In the four Democratic primaries for the County Legislature, the party’s four endorsed candidates prevailed, though a couple of the races were close. None of the four victors face a challenger in the general election.

Mark Muoio beat Bobbi Mitchell in the 21st Legislative District contest, receiving 60 percent of the votes. The seat is currently held by Democratic caucus leader Carrie Andrews, who couldn’t run for reelection due to term limits.

In the 23rd Legislative District, former Rochester police chief James Sheppard soundly defeated Mitch Rowe, the city’s building and parks director. Sheppard pulled in approximately 77 percent of the votes to Rowe’s 22 percent. Some Democrats viewed the race as a contest between two factions of the party: those aligned with Mayor Lovely Warren (backing Rowe) and those tied to the Bob Duffy and Tom Richards administrations (backing Sheppard).

Incumbent Cynthia Kaleh held off challenger Ricky Frazier in the 28th District race, but not by much. She pulled in 52 percent of the votes, while Frazier received more than 47 percent. It’s worth noting that these figures, just as the results in all of the races, are preliminary and include only totals from the polling places. Absentee ballots aren’t reflected in the numbers.

The 29th District race was a rematch between sitting legislator Ernest Flagler and challenger Leslie Rivera (last November, Flagler unseated Rivera, who was appointed to the seat earlier in 2014 to fill a vacancy). Flagler won again, with 69 percent of the vote to Rivera’s 31 percent, approximately.

The sole Republican County Legislature primary was over the 6th District seat, which represents part of Greece. Incumbent Fred Ancello received 70.7 percent of the votes and challenger Fred Gartz received 28.8 percent. Ancello faces Democrat Dick Beebe in the November general election.

There were no major surprises in the city school board race, where four seats were on the ballot. Incumbents Malik Evans, Mary Adams, and Willa Powell all kept their seats. Newcomer Liz Hallmark won the only open seat, and in January she’ll replace Melisza Campos, who decided not to run for another term.

In the unofficial returns (which don’t include absentee ballots), Evans was the top vote-getter, as expected, garnering roughly 20 percent of the votes. He was followed by Adams, who picked up about 16 percent of the votes. Powell and Hallmark each got about 14 percent of the votes.
The other totals: Lorenzo Williams, 10.4 percent of the total; Howard Eagle, 9.86; Mia Hodgins, 8.1; and Matt McDermott, 7.47. McDermott will still be on the November ballot, since he has the Working Families line.