A last minute voter casts his ballot at MS 51 in Park Slope. (Camilo Smith/The Brooklyn Ink)
By Alex Alper and Miranda Neubauer
While the rest of the country went Republican on Election Day, New York appeared to remain solidly Democratic. Democrat Andrew Cuomo comfortably defeated Republican Carl Paladino for governor. Democrat Eric Sneiderman, locked in a hot race for Attorney General, was barely ahead of Republican Dan Donovan, with 23 percent of precincts reporting.
In Senate races, the suspense was over by 9:30 pm. The Associated Press called Democratic Senator Charles Schumer’s comfortable victory over Jay Townsend, with 63 percent to Townsend’s 35 percent. Senator Kirsten Gilibrand defeated Joseph DioGuardi with similar margins, with 15 percent of precincts reporting.
Gilibrand faced voters for the first time since Governor David Paterson appointed her in January 2009 to replace former Senator Hillary Clinton. She will remain in office until 2012, when Clinton’s term would have expired.
The democratic sweep was not complete. Tea Party-backed challenger Michael Grimm was locked in a tight race with Democrat Michael McMahon. At midnight, the race was still too close to call. Grimm, a former Marine and FBI officer, faced off against McMahon, a freshman Democrat who represents Staten Island and Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, traditionally a Republican-leaning district.
In other Brooklyn congressional races, democrats appeared to win Handily. Early results indicate that Nydia Velázquez in the 12th congressional district will win against Conservative Alice Gaffney, with more than 90 percent of the vote. Nevertheless, the projected Republican takeover of the House punctured Velázquez’s win. The change in party control means that Velazquez will lose the chairmanship of the House Small Business Committee. Velázquez has represented Bushwick, Greenpoint, Red Hook, East New York, Brooklyn Heights, Sunset Park and Williamsburg since 1993.
Similarly, Jerrold Nadler (D) from Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Bay Ridge is proje Similarly, while Jerrold Nadler (D) from Coney Island, Bensonhurst, Borough Park, and Bay Ridge is projected to win over his opponent Susan Kone (R), he stands to lose his seniority on the House Judiciary and House Transportation Committee.
Edolphus Towns, representing the tenth congressional district, defeated Republican Diana Muniz. Despite his win, Towns will have to give up his chairmanship of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee that he has held since 2009. The district comprises Fort Greene, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brownsville, Mill Basin, Cypress Hills, East New York and Canarsie.
Anthony Weiner (D) representing the ninth congressional district, was projected to win reelection with 70 percent of the vote against Republican businessman Robert L. Turner.
In the eleventh district, Yvette Clark was projected to win reelection with 89 percent against opponent Hugh C. Carr (R).
In the race for comptroller, Republican Harry Wilson was in a dead heat with Democratic incumbent Joseph DiNapoli, with more than half of precincts reporting.
Paladino, a 64-year-old developer and political novice, made some major missteps during the campaign, which turned the spotlight away from the economy and helped assure Cuomo’s victory. The combative millionaire said children shouldn’t be “brainwashed“ into thinking homosexuality was acceptable, got into a shouting match with a reporter, and hinted that Cuomo had an extra-marital affair which later proved false.
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