LaLota Wins Congressional Race; Housing Funds Pass in Three Towns; State Incumbents Hold On
Pictured Above: Nick LaLota, Anthony Palumbo and Fred Thiele were all elected Tuesday.
With 92 percent of votes in the First Congressional District counted as of 5 a.m. Wednesday, Republican Nick LaLota was projected to win the seat in Congress with 55.8 percent of the vote, ahead of Democratic candidate Bridget Fleming, with 44.1 percent. Mr. LaLota, of Amityville, currently serves as the Chief of Staff to the Suffolk County Legislature, while Ms. Fleming is the Suffolk County Legislator representing the South Fork.
“I am so very grateful to #NY01 voters for trusting me to serve as their Representative in Congress. Let’s gooooo!!!” said Mr. LaLota in a Wednesday morning tweet.
“I am grateful to supporters and deeply proud of my outstanding team and the campaign we ran. We focused on issues that are critically important to Long Islanders,” said Ms. Fleming in a statement conceding the race Wednesday morning. “Our fight continues, and the most important work lies ahead of us. The challenges facing our nation and Long Island communities are daunting. We must not back down from the fight to defend the freedoms that make our great country a rich, resilient and generous nation. And our history teaches us that when Americans work together, we can overcome anything.”
A computer problem prevented the remote downloading of Suffolk County election results well into the wee hours of Wednesday morning, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections. Election workers had to bring about 1,4000 memory cards from voting machines throughout the county to Board of Elections headquarters in Yaphank to be manually uploaded.
Statewide, voters approved Proposition One, the Clean Water, Clean Air, and Green Jobs Environmental Bond Act of 2022, which will allow the state to invest $4.2 billion in climate change resiliency, green jobs and environmental justice, with 59 percent of voters statewide approving the measure.
Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul had been declared the winner in the New York governor’s race with 52.1 percent of the vote, though her opponent, East End Congressman Lee Zeldin, with 47.06 percent of the vote, had not yet conceded as this post was being published just after 5 a.m. Wednesday. At that time, 13,115 of 14,296 of New York election district results had been tallied.
“We’re still totally committed to seeing it through, for the 1.4 million Election Day voters who have not yet had their vote counted,” said Mr. Zeldin in remarks before his supporters late Tuesday night. “We hope that as these results come in that we will be able to prevail.”
Editor’s Note: Mr. Zeldin conceded Wednesday afternoon, Nov. 9, but said in his concession that “Those controlling Albany should take note — New Yorkers of all walks of life are sick of the attacks on their wallets, their safety, their freedoms and the quality of their kids’ education and are hitting their breaking point, as proven by these results.”
Housing Fund Passes in Three Towns
On the East End, voters in East Hampton, Southampton and Southold had approved the creation of Community Housing Funds, a real estate transfer tax modeled after the Community Preservation Fund that would be used by each town to fund affordable housing here.
The proposition appears to have failed on Shelter Island, where the results came down to just eight voters, with 889 people voting against the housing fund and 881 voting for it. Absentee ballots could shift this tally, however, when all the votes are counted next week.
In Southold, the yes votes were 58.9 percent, or 6,617 voters. In Southampton 53.4 percent, or 12469 voters, said yes. The proposition passed by the widest margin in East Hampton, where 68.54 percent, or 7,106 voters, said yes.
Incumbents win State Races
State Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele, Jr. was far ahead early on in unofficial results from the Suffolk County Board of Elections.
His opponent, Peter Ganley of Cutchogue, conceded the race in a Twitter post about 3 a.m.
“While we wait for every vote to be counted, it is clear there are not enough outstanding votes for our campaign to have a path to victory tonight,” he wrote. “I would like to congratulate Fred Thiele on his decisive victory this evening.”
Thank you to everyone who came out to support our campaign today.
— Peter Ganley (@PeterGanley) November 9, 2022
While it wasn’t the result we hoped for, we left it all on the field.
We still have work to do. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/YcF96w80A9
With all districts reporting as of 5 a.m. Wednesday, Mr. Thiele took home 54.7 percent of the vote, while Mr. Ganley took home 45.1 percent. Second State Assembly District Assemblywoman Jodi Giglio won a second term with 63.7 percent of the vote against Wendy Hamberger, who garnered 32.6 percent.
State Senator Anthony Palumbo, who represents the entire East End in Albany, had received 56.4 percent of the vote in his race against Skyler Johnson, who had 43.5 percent of the vote.
