ALBANY COUNTY — In the wee hours following Election Day, at least local voters went to bed certain as to who won seats in both the state Assembly and Senate, and county District Attorney.
In Albany County, where registered voters are overwhelmingly Democrat, local races were decided well before the stroke of midnight with little surprise.
Incumbent Democrat Paul Tonko successfully defended his congressional seat against Republican newcomer Elizabeth Joy.
Tonko was able to secure his seventh term in office, despite the Glens Falls native garnering the Republican, Conservative and Serve America Movement lines. Nonetheless, Tonko earned a sizable victory with 62.5 percent of the vote.
Neil Breslin will also return to his seat in the state Senate where he has been since 1996. The incumbent Democrat took 60,538 votes to Republican challenger David Yule’s 26,536.
There was a Republican victory in Albany County Tuesday night. Richard Amedure Jr pulled away with his first political victory in a tight race in the state Senate seat left vacant by Republican George Amedore Jr. — pronounced the same, but different by one vowel.
The newcomer fought off fellow first-time challenger, Democrat Michelle Hinchey in a race of familiar names. Hinchey, the daughter of the late Congressman Maurice Hinchey, fell to Amedure by just over 1,000 votes.
The race was tight throughout the night. Amedure’s lead stood by less than 200 votes on the two major party lines. The 1,945 Conservative votes enabled him to secure the win.
In the state Assembly, Democrat Patricia Fahy took nearly two-thirds of the vote in the 109th District. It was Robert Porter’s second time going up against the incumbent. Despite garnering endorsements from the Republican, Conservative and Libertarian parties, he was unable to overcome Fahy’s 35,405 votes.
Phillip Steck will return to his seat next to Fahy in the state Assembly, keeping Republican Dave Feiden down with a 56-44 percent margin in the 110th District.
The race for County District Attorney was practically uncontested as Republicans didn’t name a representative for Tuesday night. Matthew Toporowski, who failed to wrangle the Democrat Party’s nod from incumbent David Soares, earned 20,966 votes under the Working Families line. That wasn’t enough to overtake the 75,096 who voted for Soares.
