Election Recap
By Marco Schaden
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — Citizens of Dutchess County went to the polls on Nov. 6 to cast their ballot in the 2018 midterms. While almost all of the races have been called, there is one race still to be decided that is important to Dutchess County residents.
On election night, Republican incumbent State Senator Sue Serino called for victory against her opponent, Democrat Karen Smythe. However, Smythe has still not conceded the race, only being down around 2,000 votes. Smythe’s campaign said they will wait on the absentee votes to be counted before making a decision.
Democrat incumbent Andrew Cuomo won re-election for governor of New York against Republican challenger Marc Molinaro, the Dutchess County executive. Cuomo will enter his third term of four years — the governor of New York has no term limits. Cuomo may have his sights on something bigger than the governorship though, as there have been rumors that he may be running for president in 2020, in what will be a very large field if he decides to run.
Democrat challenger Antonio Delgado edged out two-term Republican U.S. Congressman John Faso, as a sign of the “blue wave” that swept the country. The race between Faso and Delgado got very heated at times, with Faso making a point in his negative ads that Delgado used bad language during his time as a rapper. Delgado, a Rhodes Scholar and Harvard Law graduate, pushed healthcare as his number one issue against Faso, by continuously showing Faso on television ads telling a woman with brain cancer that he would not take away her healthcare and then subsequently voting to take it away.
Delgado is the first African-American from upstate New York to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney reclaimed his Congress seat over Republican James O’Donnell, after a failed bid for New York attorney general, which was ultimately won by Democrat Tisha James. While his ambitions may be elsewhere, Maloney was still very popular in his district that is also extremely blue. Democrats have a registration advantage of 20,000 more voters than Republicans in the district, but the district did go for Trump in 2016. Maloney was able to hang on to his district, but he is still hurting from the attorney general race — he is currently being sued by Zephyr Teachout for allegedly transfering money over from one campaign account to another.
