Tutini ahead by 10 votes in Assembly race
By Nathan Mayberg
GOSHEN — Democrat Elisa Tutini is ahead by 10 votes in the 98th Assembly District race which acted as a barometer for the United Monroe Party.
United Monroe, a group which opposes annexation plans in Kiryas Joel, had backed Republican Dan Castricone in a thre-way race.
Brabenec, supervisor of Deer Park, was 10 votes behind Monroe Dial-A-Bus coordinator Elisa Tutini for the seat vacated by Annie Rabbitt, who took the office of Orange County Clerk this year. The district includes Monroe, Tuxedo, Warwick, Port Jervis, Minisink, Greenville and Ramapo.
Absentee ballots will now decide the race, with 1,047 votes left to be counted. Ballots are expected to be counted next week, according to Orange County Board of Elections Commissioner Susan Bahren.
Brabenec and Castricone had been polling nearly even for much of the ballot counting until late polls from Kiryas Joel gave a surge to Brabenec and Tutini.
Tutini held a commanding lead in Rockland County, where she garnered 3,469 votes to 1,880 for Brabenec and 290 votes for Castricone.
The split between Brabenec and Tutini appeared to signify differences in Kiryas Joel over who to support.
Both Brabenec and Tutini had won the bloc vote of Kiryas Joel in September primaries.
In a rematch for the 18th Congressional District seat, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-Cold Spring) won a return to Washington D.C. by winning all of the counties in the district, including a five-point lead in Orange County.
Maloney defied the national trend in which Republicans won both houses of Congress.
"When I wake up tomorrow, I'm going to keep fighting fight for all hardworking middle class families in the Hudson Valley. We have so much work to do to create jobs and grow our economy," Maloney said.
Assemblyman James Skoufis (D-Woodbury) also won re-election. Skoufis received 54 percent of the vote over Republican challenger Rich Cocchiara, a Hamtonburgh Councilman, to represent the Orange County towns of Blooming Grove, Chester, Cornwall, Goshen, New Windsor, Washingtonville, Woodbury and the Rockland County town of Stony Point in the state assembly.
Chester Supervisor Alex Jamieson beat back a challenge from Democrat Len Silver. Jamieson received 60 percent of the vote. Jamieson had previously been appointed by the town board to serve as supervisor after former Supervisor Steve Neuhaus was elected county executive.
The candidates had sparred over spending on an estimated $2 million town hall project that has been proposed.
Town councilwoman Linda Ranni easily won election over Democrat challenger Stephen Diffley.
In the Monroe Town Board race for an open seat, United Monroe-backed Dennis McWatters defeated Democrat Blanca Johnson.
In Tuxedo, Republican councilman David McMillen withstood a challenge from anti-casino candidate Kristen Apostolides. Apostolides opposed agreements that McMillen had approved between the town and Genting, the Malaysian company proposing a casino at Sterling Forest State Park. McMillen received 56 percent of the vote.
Meanwhile, Governor Andrew Cuomo won re-election to a second term in office over Republican challenger and Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino. In Orange County, 52% of voters chose Astorino.
State Senator William Larkin (R-C-New Windsor) handily won election to a 13th term in the State Senate, representing a district which includes Blooming Grove, Chester, Monroe, Newburgh, new Windsor and Woodbury. Larkin received 70 percent of the vote over challenger Gay Lee.
State Senator John Bonacic (R-Mount Hope) ran unopposed to a ninth term in the Senate. His district includes Florida, Goshen, Hamptonburgh, Middletown, Pine Island, Tuxedo, Warwick part of Ulster County and all of Sullivan County.
Family Court Judge Christine Krahulik (R-C) won another term to the bench after defeating Christine Stage (D-I) with 55 percent of the vote.
In other statewide races, Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli easily won re-election and Attorney General Eric Schneiderman coasted to victory.
In Kiryas Joel, polls were busy and lines were long in some cases. A judge ruled last month that outside election inspectors couldn't be kept from working inside the village. The Orange County Board of Elections had rescinded the appointments of several outside election inspectors to Kiryas Joel, several of whom were affiliated with United Monroe. There were numerous outside election inspectors at the polling places, as well as Orange County Sheriff's Department deputies, county and state election officials and Department of Justice observers.
Problems with two voting machines were reported during the day and at least one of them had to be replaced.
At the town hall in Chester, voter turnout was compared to "presidential election busy" by election inspector Simone Klopf. "This is actually busier than the county executive election," Klopf said.
Voters leaving the town hall in Chester who engaged in exit interviews said they voted for a change.
"It's time for changes," Don Roth said.
John Hipherd, standing outside the town hall with his two children, said he voted for "holding taxes down and holding expenditures down."
"The size of spending in Albany decreases jobs," he said.
Bruce Horn, of Chester, said he voted for Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney and against Republican challenger Nan Hayworth. He said he supported Maloney be cause he "supports equality. The challenger doesn't."
Horn said he thought it was "time for a change" when it came to the Chester supervisor race.
"The demographics have changed with a lot of people moving in from downstate," Horn said.
The town board, he said, "hasn't kept up with the times. It's a very old boy network."