Early tallies show Democrats failed to flip the U.S. House seat left open by retiring Republican Representative Peter King on Long Island. Republican Andrew Garbarino has declared victory over Democrat Jackie Gordon after she conceded last week.
The race has not been called by the Associated Press.
Garbarino represented the Great South Bay area of Long Island in the state assembly for eight years. Now, he says his first priority in Washington will be passing another coronavirus relief package.
“I will fight for money to come back to our local governments — Suffolk County, Nassau County, the townships — these municipalities got hurt due to this pandemic due to the shutdown through no fault of their own,” he said.
Garbarino said he plans to join the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. He said his four terms as a Republican in the Democrat-majority state Assembly has taught him how to work across the aisle.
“You can work together to get bipartisan bills, reasonable bills, done,” he said.
The race for New York’s 2nd Congressional District garnered national attention and millions of dollars in campaign donations. It was one of several seats the Democratic Party had targeted for a “blue wave.”
