The unofficial results are in, and Republicans will keep their hold on the county executive seat, with Cheryl Dinolfo pulling in 56 percent of the vote against Democrat Sandy Frankel and Green Party candidate Rajesh Barnabas. Frankel pulled in 41 percent while Barnabas received 2.7 percent.
Dinolfo, the current county clerk, ran like a favored incumbent while Frankel had trouble gaining notice or traction. Neither woman is a dynamic campaigner and Frankel’s loss to Maggie Brooks in a previous county executive race seemed to tamp enthusiasm for her candidacy this time around. Dinolfo was also able to raise more money than Frankel, who was backed by a currently weakened Democratic Party.
Republicans also kept their majority in the County Legislature tonight, and with most of the election districts reporting, appear to have gained a seat. They went into today’s elections with 18 seats, and sitting Democratic Legislator Dorothy Styk, who was a Republican until switching parties earlier this year, was defeated by her GOP challenger, Tanya Conley.
The Conley victory is the only upset. All 29 County Legislature seats were on the ballot today, but only nine were contested.
Crucially, Democrats did retail their ability to block large county borrowing measures, their major source of leverage in the Legislature.
The GOP also prevailed in Henrietta, despite an aggressive push by a Democratic slate. Notably, sitting Republican supervisor Jack Moore defeated former town supervisor and Democratic challenger Mike Yudelson. Earlier this year, Moore was recorded making racially insensitive remarks to some town employees.
Democrats did do well in Irondequoit, where two sitting Democratic members of the Town Board, Nicole Hushla Re and John Perticone, beat their GOP challengers. Their victories mean that the Town Board remains entirely Democratic. (Supervisor Adam Bello, also a Democrat, didn’t have a challenger.)
This article appears in Nov 4-10, 2015.
Bad, bad night tonight for the lefties at City. The Republicans retained the county exec position, will once again control the DA’s office, and increased their majority of the county legislature. Perhaps if City were not so out of touch with most people’s concerns. Were there any Dem winners? I would argue that Warren may be the biggest winner. Frankel is out of the way as a potential competitor, as her career is not kaput. And Warren’s unwillingness to endorse Frankel and her ability to work with Brooks may presage even a better relationship with Dinolfo. For Rochester’s sake, I hope she is able to continue to make progress.
The big winner of this election (outside of the Republican party) was Lovely Warren. She proved that without her prodding, Democrats will stay home – which they did, in droves. Maybe next time the Democrat party will run a County Executive candidate with at least some appeal to city voters. Sandy Frankel had zero appeal for the majority of city voters.
I listened to Cheryl Dinolfo speak during the campaign and then during her victory speech and I am now convinced she believes what she is saying. She really seems to believe in the Republican party and all those who have been part of the Republican administration in the past.
Does she know that my elected Republican representatives in local and county government have never responded to my letters or emails? Last night I believe she said all the people of Monroe Country won. But I think she meant the Republican voters won. I would like to know if Cheryl believes the Republicans elected last night represent everyone or just Republicans. i also want to know if I contact my Republican representatives will they respond or will will continue their fine tradition of ignoring my questions and comments?
Animule has a great point. The Democratic party has to step back and look at their behavior and regroup from there. First, when Lovely Warren beat Tom Richards in the primary, the old white liberal wing of the party refused to support her, worse, they launched “Turn out for Tom”. They tried to kill her even though she was the party designee. Their campaign, run by white party operatives, caused a divide in the party, not her behavior.
Today, those same operatives and supporters are amazed that she did nothing to support them. She did nothing to hurt them, she just stood on the sidelines, unlike what they tried to do to her. It is amazing to me that anyone expects her to do otherwise…they tried to destroy her politically and want her to support them!
The Democratic party will begin to heal when those who threw the first punch recognize that their behavior has caused the destruction of their party…not hers.
This is not the 60s, 70s , 80s, or 90s. This is a community deeply divided by race and poverty. The questions for the white wing of the Democratic party is who tries to be the healer? Start with this assumption…the city is a city of color. Lovely Warren and David Gantt are not the cause of your problems, they are the symptom of the racial divide you do not want to acknowledge…and the fight you started!
The Democratic Party has been a mess the enitre time I have lived in Monroe County. From the time I volunteered to bring the Gates Democratic Committee back to life to my time with dfaROCHESTER, outsiders have been treated with suspicion and fear.
During the Howard Dean campaign, fear and distrust of new and highly energized active members in the local Democratic scene were rampant. While our endless energy to serve as workhorses was used, new ideas and new leadership was never welcomed.
If a group or individual did not fit into one of the very few narrow channels–Morelle or Gantt people or whoever the ego of the month was– there was no welcome mat.
Factions with factions, insiders and outsiders and disarray have been the hallmarks of the local Democratic Party. That is why I left the party.
Only when someone realizes it should never, ever be about the politicians will things be able to change. The Democratic Party needs to take note of the Green Party, where progressive ideals and the needs of the citizens are the focus.
Tom,
From what I saw, the D.F.A. and progressive Democrats were only a vehicle for Eric Massa to get into Congress in ’06 and ’08. And once he was found out to be a pervert and resigned, that so-called “movement” folded as fast as a cheap card table. Cynical double-talkers like Cuomo, Morelle and Warren claim to be “progressive” but they’re more about maintaining their own position and six-figure salaries than in enacting truly progressive policies. Harry Bronson may qualify as the closest thing to a progressive Dem in Rochester politics but he can’t go any farther than his gerrymandered Assembly district.
Most Democrats around here are conservative on either social or economic issues, or both. Many years ago, moderate to conservative Democrats like Tom Frey, Gary Proud, Ralph Quattrociocchi, Nan Johnson and Roger Robach dominated Monroe County politics. The Democrats have moved too far to the left on certain issues and too far to the right on others for them to be successful outside of liberal pockets like Rochester or Brighton. Irondequoit votes for Democrats because Morelle tells them to, not because they are actually liberal.
Seanh,
DFA in Rochester did so much more than work on the Eric Massa campaign. Our main focus was to support true progressive local candidates who received little or no support from the local Democratic establishment.
DFA locally did not fold because of Eric Massa. We simply felt our mission of training and educating local activists was complete and our members are still active in their respective communities.
“Our mission was complete.” That is a clever way of saying that your candidates in general got their heads handed to them by the electorate and you decided to stop wasting your time. Good for you. Now join the mainstream Democrats and the mainstream body politic here and perhaps we can get something actually done. Or you can be content to rant and rave on Internet comment sections. Your choice.