After a contentious campaign against a former opponent, Albany County District Attorney David Soares scored a big win on a big night in Albany and was overwhelmingly re-elected to another four-year term.
Second time challenger Republican Roger Cusick ran on the Integrity line against the Democrat and netted several big endorsements by the local service unions but ultimately lost the race by 29,128 votes to 80,441 votes.
Soares appeared to be running unopposed during the summer but Republicans mounted an aggressive campaign against him and created the Integrity Party to challenge him late in the political season.
Cusick used critical audits by fellow Democrat Albany County Comptroller Michael Conners as fodder to accuse Soares of mishandling public funds in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s election.
In the end it wasn’t enough to upset the first-term incumbent on a night when Democrats swept the nation and the state as voters woke up to find the first Democratic New York Senate since the 1960s and a new Democratic President, effectively ending an eight-year Republican White House.
Democrats also widened their control in Congress, picking up a handful of new seats.
With over 70 percent of the vote in his favor, Soares spoke to supporters at Jillian’s in Albany, which was the local headquarters for now President-elect Barack Obama. It was a historic night as Democratic supporters were engaged in a boisterous celebration watching the national results role in.
When key battleground states like Pennsylvania and Ohio went for Obama, the crowd exploded into cheers and revelry and Soares played to the crowd telling them they were witnessing history.
He told supporters that voters were not swayed by scare tactics used by his opponent and the Republicans supporting him. Cusick, who was watching the results at Albany’s Hibernian Hall, blamed his substantial lost on the national Democratic fervor.“