Democrat and former state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo has been elected New York’s 56th Governor. While the outcome isn’t surprising, the ease of his victory, projected within minutes of the polls’ closing, is. In local races, there appear to be no surprises. Soon to be no longer freshman State Senator Daniel Squadron is the projected winner over his Republican opponent, Joseph Nardiello. Although no projection has yet been made in the race between incumbent Assembly Member Joan Millman and Republican/Conservative challenger John Jasilli, with 38 of 132 precincts reporting Millman has 87 percent of the vote. Both of Brooklyn Heights’ members of the U.S. House of Representatives (their districts border each other along Henry and Pierrepont Streets), Edolphus Towns (11th District, Democrat) and Nydia Velazquez (12th District, also a Democrat) were re-elected overwhelmingly, each getting over 90 percent of the vote. In the nearby 10th District, incumbent Democrat Yvette Clark was also re-elected. Both of New York State’s incumbent U.S. Senators, Democrats Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, also were victorious.
Two citywide referenda, one to return term limits for city offices to two instead of three and the other to make administrative reforms to city government, both appear to be passing overwhelmingly.
Two statewide races, for Attorney General and Comptroller, remain in doubt. In the AG race, with 54 percent of the precincts reporting, Democrat Eric Schneiderman appears to have a comfortable lead over Republican Dan Donovan. With 57 percent of the precincts in, the Comptroller race between incumbent Democrat Tom DiNapoli and Republican challenger Harry Wilson is very tight, with DiNapoli holding a slight lead.
Update: Millman, DiNapoli and Schneiderman are now all winners.