Governor Andrew Cuomo hasn’t gotten a lot of good press in the last week or two. His campaign was directly implicated in a Democratic Party mailer meant to smear his primary opponent, Cynthia Nixon. And he faced questions about whether he rushed the opening of new span of the Tappan Zee Bridge downstate to generate some positive press ahead of the election; the new bridge span had to be closed after engineers warned an old section of the bridge was at risk of collapsing, putting the new bridge at risk.
And that follows a year where key figures in his Buffalo Billion initiative — including a former aide close to the governor — were convicted of various corruption-related charges.
But Cuomo beat Nixon by a longshot, pulling in approximately 64 percent of the votes. In a preemptive e-mail memo, the Nixon camp pointed out that Cuomo spent more against Nixon than he did his last primary opponent, Zephyr Teachout; that the last-minute mailer wrongly characterizing Nixon as anti-Semitic cost her votes; and saying that state poll hours and voting restrictions suppressed turnout.
Cuomo pulled in approximately 60 percent of the vote in Monroe County, not including absentee and affidavit ballots. He’ll face Nixon again in the general election, since she has the Working Families Party line. He’ll also face Republican Marc Molinaro, Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins, and Serve America Movement candidate Stephanie Miner.
The lieutenant governor’s race, on the other hand, was close. Incumbent LG Kathy Hochul prevailed over her challenger, New York City Council member Jumaane Williams, who will still have the Working Families Party line on the November general election ballot. Hochul got around 48 percent of the votes statewide, while Williams pulled in 42 percent. Hochul carried Monroe County with approximately 66 percent of the vote.
In perhaps the most competitive local primary, the Democratic contest for the 136th Assembly District, Jamie Romeo had a decisive win. She got approximately 62 percent of the vote while Jaclyn Richard pulled in around 26 percent and Todd Grady received roughly 12 percent.
Romeo, the Monroe County Democratic Committee chair who worked as chief of staff for former State Senator Ted O’Brien, had the party’s designation. There is no Republican candidate or other challenger in the general.
Longtime Assembly member David Gantt prevailed against challenger Ann Lewis. He received 58 percent of the vote.
There’ll be a change on the Rochester school board, come January. Three Democrats were running for two seats in their party’s primary: two incumbents, Melanie Funchess and Beatriz LeBron, who were appointed last January to two board members who left mid-term, and longtime activist Judith Davis, an intellectual property specialist at Bausch + Lomb. Unofficial returns showed LeBron leading, with 36.73 percent of the vote; Davis coming in second with 32.49 percent, and Funchess third, with 30.57 percent, with votes from only one district not yet counted.
Davis and LeBron will serve for a year but will have to run again in November 2019 for a full term.
In other races:
- New York City Public Advocate Tish James was the top vote-getter in the four-way Democratic primary for attorney general. Fordham law school professor Zephyr Teachout came in second, House Representative Sean Patrick Maloney was third, and Leecia Eve, a Verizon executive and a former Cuomo economic development adviser was last. Maloney won Monroe County with 44 percent of the vote.
- Michael Lopez prevailed in a City Court primary against Gil Perez. Lopez received 68 percent of votes at the polls, while Perez received 32 percent.
This is a developing story which will be updated throughout the evening.
This article appears in Sep 12-19, 2018.
People say they want change. People do not vote for change.
Not a shred of evidence that Nixon actually represented change or could implement any if elected.
Thank god the Democrats in New York were spared the embarrassment, currently being experienced by our Republican brethren, of being represented by a windbag spouting change without a clue as to how to achieve it, an amateur with an oversized ego and an undersized political resume whose only qualification for office is name-recognition as an “entertainer”.
Louise Reynolds – You’re over-analyzing the problem. Those who supported candidates like Trump, Nixon or, closer to home, Rachel Barnhart did so because their simplistic political view is: current politicians =bad, outsiders = good.
Jack, Barnhart was not an actress or a reality TV star. Don’t you know the difference? She’s an investigative reporter who had the most comprehensive platform, (did you visit her website?) and was best able to articulate knowledge of policy at the debates (did you watch?). Barnhart is far more like Zephyr Teachout than Cynthia Nixon. Sadly, they’ve both run against the machine three times and lost. I hope they both keep going, because corruption is a problem in New York.
OK Bob. So in your world, being a TV reporter (with the name recognition that entails) is sufficient credentials to be a Congressperson, or a state legislator, or even a mayor? Man, you don’t ask for much, do you? Tell me, does a print reporter get the same pass on practical political experience that you give Barnhart? How about internet bloggers? Same deal? By the way”comprehensive platforms” are a matter of opinion. And calling them as such is simply a highly subjective opinion. In the real world, a platform and the ideas it contains, require knowledge of the system and hands on experience in deal making, twisting arms and building consensus in order to get approved by one’s own party, let alone the opposition. Oh, and as an FYI, please provide any studies that you’re aware of which demonstrate that political neophytes are any less prone to corruption than those nasty old (snicker) “machine” politicians. And do let us know at what point a newly-elected official becomes a a member of the “machine”.
Jack…you only need to be a citizen to be an effective Congressperson. Being an investigative reporter with Barnhart’s reputation is icing on the cake.
Tom J….Actually to be a member of the House of Representatives, one must be a citizen for a minimum of 7 years, 25 years of age, and a resident of the state where they are running for the seat. These are the minimum standards. To assume that anyone who can meet those standards is also qualified to be in the House is to set the bar so low as to make the office meaningless. Which is what those backing candidates with no practical credentials for office are in danger of doing. I have to agree with Jack. Watching and talking about what others are doing may be good training to be a voyeur or town gossip but it’s of no value in running a country.
Are incumbents automatically the best choice since they have been in office and have firsthand experience? Would an incumbent with felony charges pending be a better choice than Rachel Barnhart? Should lack of firsthand military experience disqualify someone free m higher electe doffice? Should someone without a college degree even be allowed to run for office?
“Watching and talking about what others are doing may be good training to be a voyeur or town gossip …”
If that’s what you think journalists like Barnhart do, no wonder we have a fake news problem in our country.
Janowski – I see the red herrings are running. Better luck next time. As an FYI, even though many of them are unsuccessful, incumbents (and we’re talking at the state or federal level since running for local office with no experience is obviously where one gets such experience) know the ropes, know how deals are struck, know how to work with the opposition. Neophytes need to learn this stuff from the ground up. So the answer to your question, ” Are incumbents automatically the best choice since they have been in office and have firsthand experience?” is, yes. Unless of course you can demonstrate that too much ego and too little political experience and knowledge makes for a better Congressperson or state legislator.
A good friend of mine says a corrupt Democrat is always way better than any Republican– corrupt or not. And that sums up my issue with big party politics.