Here's the latest, unofficial Election Day results..... more info available at the Chautauqua County Board of Elections website....
You can now call him State Senator-elect. Chautauqua County Executive George Borrello was the winner in Tuesday's election to find a replacement for the retired Cathy Young. Final, district-wide vote totals were not available last night, but Borrello won in Chautauqua County 20,445 to 7,700 for Democrat Austin Morgan. During his acceptance speeh at GOP Headquarters, Borrello said it will be hard to fill Young's shoes -- but he'll do his best.
Borrello wound up with 72-percent of the vote in Chautauqua County, while Morgan got 28-percent. Those numbers mirror what happend in the district, where similar numbers were reported with 80-percent of the vote counted. Borrello says his goal in Albany is to hit the road running and, make sure the 57th District's values are represented in Albany. According to the Associated Press, tallies in all 215 precincts are 41,410 for Borello and 16,454 for Morgan.
Democrats have held onto the mayor's office in Jamestown, but may have lost the City Council. Democrat Eddie Sundquist won the Mayor's race with 2,519 votes to defeat Republican David Wilfong, who received 1,959. At Democratic headquarters last night, Sundquist said he was pleased, and humbled by the support he received during the campaign.
Sundquist will replace the retiring Sam Teresi, who decided earlier this year to not seek an unprecidented sixth-term in office. Wilfong was gracious in defeat and, congratulated the new mayor during his concession speech at the Doubletree Hotel, and pledged his support. Libertarian long-shot candidate, At Large Councilman Andrew Liuzzo, was a distant third last night with 574 votes. Sundquist ended up with just under 50-percent of the vote.
----
Right now... Republicans hold a slim 5-to-4 majority on the City Council after Republicans Grant Olson and Jeff Russell won seats. Olson unseated incumbant Democrat Maria Jones in Ward-Five, 495-to-397. Russell won an at-large seat with 2,483 votes. Incumbant Republican Kim Ecklund received the most votes -- 2,721. The third seat was won by Democrat Tamu Graham-Reinhardt with 2,173 votes. In Ward-One, though, incumbant Republican Brent Sheldon holds a slim, 7-vote lead over Democrat Tim Smeal. That race will come down to absentees.
It was a clean-sweep of races in the town of Busti and Village of Lakewood on Election night, as Village Trustee Randy Holcomb won the mayor's race over Acting Mayor Ted McCague. Holcomb received 517 votes to McCague's 375. He acknowledged long-time Busti Republican Chairwoman Nel Tarbrake who was key in getting him involved as a high schooler.
Holcomb says he was very pleased to see running mates Ellen Barnes, and Rich Fischer also win seats on the village board. He says that means there will be five registered Republicans governing the village starting next year.
---
In Busti, Republican Jesse Robbins was elected to a third-term over Democratic challenger Rudy Mueller. Robbins received 1,170 votes to Mueller's 982 tallies. In addition to Robbins, Republican Jim Andrews was elected, along with newcomer Paul Gustafson to the town board.
In other races from Election Day, Republicans will continue their hold on the Chautauqua County Legislature, with some newcomers being elected. Republican Bill Ward won a three-way race for the District 18 seat. Ward received 854 votes to incumbant Cornerstone Party member Martin Proctor's 441 votes. Rick Syper was third with 205 tallies. IN District 6, Republican Thomas Harmon upset incumbant Democrat Kevin O'Connell, 855-to-789.
----
There will be a new mayor in the village of Falconer, as Democrat James Jaroszynski won over Republican Carm Catanese, 229-to-121. In Fredonia, incumbant Republican Athanasia Landis was defeated by Democratic Village Board member, Doug Essek, one-thousand-251 to one-thousand-113.
----
In the Town of Carroll, former Town Supervisor Russ Payne won over incumbant Laura Smith, 691-to-466.
----
New York's beleaguered Republican Party is seeing a decreasing number of registered voters....
The latest state Board of Elections data shows the state's GOP has seen a drop of over 18,000 Republican active voters since November 2016. Meanwhile, New York has about 2.6-million active Republicans as of November 1st. Meanwhile, nearly 6 million active voters are registered as Democrats in New York -- an increase of over 270,000 voters from 5.6-million in November 2016. Democrats now represent 50.4% of New York active voters. Roughly 3.2 million of New York City's 4.7 million voters are Democrats, who are increasingly gaining ground in suburban counties once considered Republican strongholds. Turnout numbers on Tuesday could indicate how tough of a road Democrats and Republicans running for Congress will face in 2020.
