Spano romps in Yonkers mayor race: takeaways from Hudson Valley primaries

Yonkers Mayor Mike Spano won the right to run for a fourth term in November on Tuesday, overcoming a Democratic challenge from two Democrats in a hard-fought primary.

Spano, with an overwhelming advantage in fundraising, beat City Councilwoman Corazon Pineda-Isaac and Yonkers educator Margaret Fountain-Coleman, according to unofficial totals.

The ballots were counted four days after the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court unanimously rejected a bid to overturn the law passed by the City Council in October that extended term limts for the mayor and City Council members from three to four 4-year terms.

Pineda-Isaac, with the grassoots support of the Working Families Party and Community Voices Heard, had criticized the power of the Spano political family, which including the mayor, his brother Nick, who has a lucrative lobbying business, and 19 Spano relatives on the city payroll.

Spano remained positive, focusing on his record of downtown development, improvements in the Yonkers schools, and public safety.

"It was about my record and whether the people of Yonkers wanted to continue with what we started. At the end of the day, that won out, and I'm happy about it," he said.

The Yonkers mayoral contest was the highest profile primary in a county with Democratic and Republican primaries in New Rochelle, Harrison, Mount Kisco, Mount Vernon, Yonkers, and the village of Mamaroneck.

In Yonkers, Williams leading Johnson, Breen on the ropes

In the fight over representation in the 15th District of the county Board of Legislators, City Councilwoman Shanae Williams, D-Yonkers, defeated three-term incumbent Chris Johnson, D-Yonkers. Williams was outspoken in her criticism of Johnson's decision to purchase a home outside of the 16th District in 2022 while insisting he remained a resident at a condominium he purchased through the city's Affordable Housing program in 2010, where his brother-in-law now lives.

Questions over his residency remain the subject of an investigation by the city's Inspector General office.

In a City Council Democratic primary, Shatika Parker, a committee staffer at the Westchester County Board of Legislators, held a narrow lead over Deana Robinson and Effie Phillips, according to early returns.

In a City Council Republican primary, Ronald Shutte, president of All Hallows High School in the Bronx, was leading City Councilman Mike Breen in Breen's bid for a fourth term, following his vote to extend term limits.

Ramos-Herbert wins Dem primary for New Rochelle mayor

She had the support of her party, the outgoing mayor and prominent Democrats. And on Tuesday, City Councilwoman Yadira Ramos-Herbert was cruising to victory over Westchester County Legislator Damon Maher in her bid to become the first woman and first person of color to lead New Rochelle.

Ramos-Herbert, a council member since 2020, led Maher by a nearly 2-to-1 ratio at 11 p.m. with votes tallied in about 64% of precincts.

The two were competing for the Democratic nomination to succeed Noam Branson, who has been mayor since 2006 and didn't seek re-election. He backed Ramos-Herbert in her competition with Maher, a county legislator since 2018.

Ramos-Herbert will face Republican Louis Trangucci in the November general election for mayor of the city of 80,000, where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by 3 to 1.

One recent piece of intrigue in the primary race was the mystery over who had provided the $60,000 that the Westchester Democratic Committee donated to Ramos-Herbert's campaign. The committee ultimately disclosed that developer Louis Cappelli and his associates had given the committee $100,000 shortly before its transfer to the Ramos-Herbert account.

Mount Vernon voters stick with Patterson-Howard as mayor

Shawyn Patterson-Howard did on Tuesday what no sitting mayor in politically turbulent Mount Vernon has done in 20 years: win the support of voters to stay for another term.

Patterson-Howard, the city’s leader since 2020, trounced Andre Wallace, a former city council president who served six months as mayor in 2019, in a two-way Democratic primary, given her a virtually unobstructed path to re-election in November. No Republican entered the race in the heavily Democratic city.

Patterson-Howard was leading Wallace by 40 percentage points as of 11 p.m., with ballots counted in 71% of election districts.

In her victory speech before cheering supporters, Patterson-Howard noted the two decades of turnover at the top, and said voters had shown confidence by breaking that cycle. She ran through a litany: "This is a mandate for continuity, for leadership, for vision, for a plan, for execution, for partnerships, for collaboration, for teamwork, for building."

Her only potential general election opponent is former mayor Richard Thomas, who has sued the Westchester County Board of Elections to contest its rejection of his petition to run on an independent ballot line. He tried earlier to run in the Democratic primary, but the board voided his petition because of flaws.

Thomas waged a write-in campaign in the Democratic primary. The Board of Elections didn’t report how many write-in votes were cast.

Campaign spending was unusually high for Mount Vernon. As of two weeks ago, Patterson-Howard had spent $300,000 on her campaign over the last year, four times what Wallace spent.

Putnam County GOP ousts several incumbents

Without Democratic opposition in November, Putnam County Republican primary voters elected a new town supervisor in Southeast, and decided that incumbent supervisors in Patterson and Carmel deserved another two-year term.

It was not a good night for incumbents, with Republican Town Board members in Carmel, Southeast and Patterson losing re-elections bids, and Patterson Supervisor Richard Williams denied a third term as well.

Republicans also elected the upcoming town boards in Patterson and Southeast because local Democrats failed to muster candidates for two seats in both towns.

In Southeast, retired Brewster businessman Nick Durante beat Paul Jonke, R-Southeast, who now serves as the chair of the Putnam County Legislature, in the Republican primary for town supervisor. Jonke, who served as the Southeast town assessor in the 1990s, eyed a return to Town Hall in January, but it will be Durante who gets sworn in.

Durante, who retired from his position as a Verizon lineman after 30 years, had later owned the Bella Vino wine shop in Brewster.

In Patterson, retired New York City firefighter Michael Sudol, who was endorsed by the Patterson Republican Committee, was leading the primary against two-term Supervisor Richard Williams.

In Carmel, Supervisor Michael Cazzari, the town's former police chief, for the second time defeated former Supervisor Ken Schmitt in a Republican primary. Cazzari ousted Schmitt two years ago in the GOP primary, ending Schmitt's 7-term tenure.

Schmitt had criticized Cazzari's low-key approach to town affairs. But Cazzari said he's moving forward with to complete the Swan Cove park and parking lot, which began under Schmitt's leadership. Finance manager Robert Kearns pulled an upset in the Carmel Republican primary, ousting incumbent Robert Schanil in a three-way race for two seats. The top votegetter was incumbent Frank Lombardi. They will face two Democrats in November.

In Southeast, Republican incumbent Town Board member John O'Connor was ousted, as challengers Wendy Lewis and Alessandro Mazzotta were the top two votegetters, and will take office in January.

There were five Patterson Republicans vying for two Town Board seats. There were Joseph Capasso, Laura Russo, Deputy Supervisor Shawn Rogan, Joseph Esposito and Peter Meuntener. Victorious were Capasso and Russo, with Rogan losing his seat on the board.

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David McKay Wilson writes about tax issues and government accountability. Follow him on Twitter @davidmckay415 or email him at dwilson3@lohud.com.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Patterson-Howard wins in Mount Vernon while Spano romps in Yonkers