DECEMBER 2020 • LONGISLANDPRESS.COM 9
ELECTION RECAP
BLUE WAVE’S UNDERCURRENTS
BY TIMOTHY BOLGER
The blue wave of Democratic victories
pundits projected for Election Day became
a slowly rising tide amid the snail’s
pace of counting an unprecedented
number of absentee ballots mailed in
due to the coronavirus pandemic.
While the blue tide buoyed Democratic
President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and
sank Republican Donald Trump’s bid
for a second term in the White House,
on Long Island the inflow fell short, as
the GOP floated into one Democrat-held
seat and may have washed away another
local Dem.
“We need to come together when the
election is over,” U.S. Rep Lee Zeldin
(R-Shirley) told cheering supporters
on election night at a campaign event
in Center Moriches. “We’re Americans
first.”
Election results on LI were not unlike
those nationwide, which resulted in
Democrats losing a few seats in their
majority in the U.S. House of Representatives
and coming up short in flipping
the U.S. Senate from GOP control —
although a pair of run-off elections
in Georgia come January will prove
pivotal.
On the Island, New York State Sen.
Monica Martinez (D-Brentwood) is in
the fight of her career as absentee ballots
continue to show Republican former Islip
Town Tax Receiver Alexis Weik as
the winner as of press time. And in the
race to replace retiring longtime state
Sen. Kenneth LaValle (R-Stony Brook),
state Assemblyman Anthony Palumbo
(R-New Suffolk) leads Democrat Laura
Ahearn, the executive director of the
nonprofit Parents For Megan’s Law and
The Crime Victims Center.
“Not definite yet,” Jay Jacobs, chairman
of the state and Nassau chapters of the
Democratic Committee, told the Press.
“Both possible, but both heavy lifts.”
Suffolk County Democratic Committee
Chairman Richard Schaffer conceded
that he was “not sure” if Martinez and
Ahearn would prevail.
In the 2nd Senate District to replace
Bo Lim, 30, of Philadelphia, poses with a copy of The New York Times outside Trump Tower, the day after a presidential
election victory was called for former Vice President Joe Biden, in Manhattan on Nov. 8, 2020. (REUTERS/
Andrew Kelly)
retired state Sen. John Flanagan (R-East
Northport), the former GOP minority
leader, Republican Mario Mattera, a
plumbers union official, beat Democrat
Michael Siderakis, a former state trooper
and police union official.
State Sen. James Gaughran (D-Northport),
state Sen. Kevin Thomas (D-Levittown),
and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove) all
saw heavily Democratic-leaning absentee
ballots reverse GOP wins in the early returns
based on in-person voting machine
tallies on election night. And state Assemblyman
Andrew Garbarino (R-Sayville)
beat former Babylon Town Councilwoman
Jackie Gordon, a Democrat, to keep the seat
of retiring U.S. Rep. Peter King (R-Seaford)
in Republican hands.
In state Assembly races across the
Island, incumbents appear heading
to re-election, despite some close calls
from state Assemblyman Steve Stern
(D-Huntington), state Assemblyman
Steve Englebright (D-Setauket), and
state Assemblywoman Judy Griffin
(D-Rockville Centre). Republicans also
held open GOP Assembly seats with
Riverhead Town Councilwoman Jodi
Giglio winning Palumbo’s seat, Garbarino’s
chief of staff Jarett C. Gandolfo
winning his boss’s seat, and attorney
Keith Brown winning a seat vacated
by former state Assemblyman Andrew
Raia (R-Huntington).
But Republicans did pick up one seat
from Democrats: GOP yogurt business
owner Ragini Srivastava beat Democrat
Gina Sillitti, who’s worked in Nassau and
Town of North Hempstead government,
to win the post held by retiring state
Assemblyman Anthony D’Urso (D-New
Hyde Park).
Despite the tricky political undercurrents
at play in races on LI, Democrats
surged in the New York State Legislature.
State Senate Majority Leader
Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers)
said Albany’s upper chamber will have a
supermajority, meaning it has the power
to potentially override Gov. Andrew
Cuomo’s veto.
“In 2021, we will begin our session with
a historic supermajority,” Stewart-Cousins
told reporters on Nov. 23. “And it will
also be the biggest Senate majority conference
in the history of New York State."
For more elections coverage visit
longislandpress.com/elections
IN THE NEWS
“We will begin our session with a historic
supermajority,” Stewart-Cousins said.
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