After a redistricting scramble, New York on Tuesday held primary elections for U.S. House and state Senate, which were delayed from June when the state held elections for governor and lieutenant governor. Low voter turnout is expected.
Polls in New York closed at 9 p.m. ET. Races are called according to the Associated Press, as of 11 p.m. ET.
On Long Island, key races including the 1st and 3rd districts, which are vacant after Reps. Lee Zeldin (R-NY1) and Democrat Tom Suozzi (D-NY3) left to run for governor. Zeldin is now the GOP candidate for governor facing Governor Kathy Hochul in November, after she beat Suozzi in the Democratic Party primary in June.
Nicholas LaLota won the Republican Party primary to replace Zeldin in the 1st District.
LaLota is known for his role as the Republican Commissioner on the bipartisan Suffolk County Board of Elections. He was a trustee in the village of Amityville, a GOP political strategist and a veteran.
Thank you, Suffolk County. Tonight we celebrate a win against $3 million in outside special interests. Tomorrow, we fight for our community and country against the Biden-Pelosi agenda. Together, we’ll stand up for hard-working Long Island families and always put #LongIslandFirst
— Nick LaLota (@nicklalota) August 24, 2022
Since January, he has served as the GOP-led Suffolk County Legislature’s chief of staff. LaLota handedly won the county’s Republican Party endorsement.
Long Island voters were split between him and businesswoman Michelle Bond. She gained endorsements from prominent national figures like Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Donald Trump, Jr. She also gained support from the Suffolk County Police Conference and the conservative activist group, the Long Island Loud Majority.
A third-candidate, Anthony Figliola, garnered a fraction of the vote.
LaLota will face Suffolk County Legislator Bridget Fleming, who ran unopposed in the Democratic Party primary.
Due to redistricting, the 1st District includes roughly of Suffolk County’s north shore and some of its south shore, including Southampton, East Hampton, and Shelter Island.
Robert Zimmerman has won the five-way Democratic Party primary election in the 3rd District.
Zimmerman was a wealthy superdelegate to the 2016 Democratic National Convention from New York. He supported Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination that year, and has worked for decades as a political strategist.
He beat Deputy Suffolk County Executive Jon Kaiman, Nassau County Legislator Joshua Lafazan, healthcare advocate Melanie D’Arrigo, and nonprofit trade organizer Reema Rasol.
Zimmerman will compete against Republican Wall Street investor George Santos, who ran unopposed.
Due to redistricting, the 3rd District is made up of Nassau County’s north shore, including North Hempstead, most of Oyster Bay, a sliver of Huntington — and even parts of Queens.
The 4th District is also vacant because Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY4) is not running for re-election.
Laura Gillen declared victory over three other Democrats seeking to challenge Republican Anthony D’Eposito, an NYPD detective.
“Tonight, voters spoke loud and clear that they want a representative who will fight tooth and nail against GOP politicians in Washinton who want to pass a national abortion ban without exceptions to rape, incest, or even if the woman’s life is in danger,” Gillen said in a statement. Gillen, the former Supervisor of the Town of Hempstead, was the first Democrat to hold the seat in 112 years.
“Healthcare decisions, including basic birth control, are between a woman and her doctor, not by Washington politicians trying to score political points with their extremist base. We cannot allow women to be stripped of their civil liberties and autonomy over their healthcare decisions.”
Her opponents were Malverne Village Mayor Keith Corbett, Nassau County Legislator Carrie Solanges, and practicing physician Dr. Muzibul Huq in the district that includes the city of Long Beach and Hempstead.
Other notable Long Island races include: the Democratic primary in the 4th State Senate District, former state Senator Monica Martinez ousted incumbent Philip Ramos, and Democratic incumbent Anna Kaplan beat Jeremy Joseph in the 7th State Senate District.
Incumbents challenged
Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY2) defended against a three-way GOP primary race to represent the 2nd District, which now spans the Great South Bay, including Babylon, Islip and parts of Brookhaven and Massapequa. His challengers include veteran Robert Cornicelli and Mike Rakebrandt, a former NYPD detective who is also a veteran.
Garbarino, a former member of the state Assembly, will face Democrat Jackie Gordon, a veteran and former member of the Babylon Town Council, in November.
In the rest of New York, the battle between longtime Democrats in the 12th District, in New York City, and a notable special election in the 19th District, capture national attention.
In parts of Brooklyn and lower Manhattan, Dan Goldman, a lead investigator in an impeachment trials of former President Trump, won a race against Democrats in the 10th District. Goldman is also heir to the Levi Strauss clothing company fortune.
He beat State Assemblywomen Yuh-Line Niou, Jo Anne Simon, New York City Councilwoman Carly Rivera, Congressman Mondaire Jones, and Elizabeth Holtzman, former Brooklyn District Attorney and New York City Comptroller.
Jones moved out of a redrawn Hudson Valley district he represents to run in the new district. While decades ago, Holtzman was among the youngest women ever elected to Congress, where she served from 1973 to 1981.
Former New York City Bill de Blasio was still on the Democratic ballot, although he unofficially withdrew from the race.
In Manhattan, Democrat Carolyn Maloney’s three-decade career in the U.S. House is coming to a close after she lost Tuesday to her longtime colleague-turned-rival Jerry Nadler, a Democratic congressman who has served just as long as she has.
Nadler from the Upper West Side and Maloney from the Upper East Side — two powerful long time allies — found themselves in the same district, competing in a primary. A third candidate in that race was lawyer Suraj Patel.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) has fended off a challenge from Westchester County legislators Vedat Gashi and Catherine Parker, as well as lawyer Mark Jaffe. He will face Republican John Ciampoli, a lawyer who ran unopposed. He graduated from Hofstra University on Long Island.
In the 17th District, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-NY), who is the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, has beat State Senator Alessandra Biaggi. State Assemblymember Michael Lawler won a five-way GOP primary race to challenge Maloney.
Notable races
There was also a special election to fill out the remaining term of Antonio Delgado, who left Congress to become the state’s lieutenant governor. The race in the highly competitive district is considered a bellwether for the November general elections.
Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan, a Democrat, won the temporary seat against Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, a Republican.
Because of redistricting, the 19th District seat that Molinaro and Ryan are running for will be reconfigured in 2023. So both are also running to represent slightly different districts in January.
Molinaro will be on the November ballot to fill the newly redrawn 19th District seat next year, facing Democrat Josh Riley.
In Western New York, Nick Langworthy, the state Republican State Party chair, won against businessman Carl Paladino. However, Paladino refuses to concede.
The seat is begin vacated by Rep. Chris Jacobs, who is not seeking reelection after other members of his party criticized him for coming out in favor of gun control following the May shooting in Buffalo.
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Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org. Additional reporting by Karen DeWitt.
See results for other states holding elections on Tuesday: Florida andOklahoma.
