Sweet, Weber Lead Primary Night Results For NY Senate District 38

Lanning Taliaferro
·2 min read

HUDSON VALLEY, NY — Clarkstown Town Clerk Justin Sweet racked up the most in-person votes in the Democratic Primary for the New York State Senate in District 38, and Bill Weber had the lead in the Republican Primary, according to unofficial tallies posted by the New York State Board of Election after primary day Tuesday.

The oddly drawn district includes all of Rockland County plus a tiny section of Westchester across the Hudson River.

Results of the primaries are still weeks away. Unofficial election night results do not include the results of absentee ballot voting. State election officials said county boards of elections have received a historically high number of absentee ballots for all the June 23 primaries due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Absentee ballots postmarked by June 23 must be received by the Board of Elections no later than June 30, 2020 to be counted, as per New York State Election Law Section 8-412(1).

Sweet, 51, has been elected five times as Clarkstown Town Clerk. First, after graduating from SUNY Buffalo, he returned to Rockland and worked at the family-owned title insurance business his grandfather founded. Going back to school later in life, he earned his law degree at Pace University in 2005.

"As someone with public and private sector experience, I understand the struggles of working families and small businesses," he told Patch. Read his candidate profile.

A CPA, Weber, also 51, is the chief financial officer of a private-sector company. He lives in Montebello with his wife, Lisa Weber, the acting superintendent of the Suffern Central school district, and four children. He has served on the board of directors of the Mental Health Association of Rockland.

"For the foreseeable future, our state will be faced with the daunting task of rebuilding our economy, all while being faced with billions of dollars of debt and revenue shortfalls. My experience and skills are uniquely suited for this job," he told Patch. Read his candidate profile.

The New York State Board of Elections posted these interim vote tallies:

Democratic primary

Republican primary

In the Democratic Primary, Sweet picked up 40.45 percent of the in-person vote in Rockland County. While Reichlin-Melnick was favored in Westchester, Rockland voters make up 87 percent of the active Democrats in the 38th.

In the Republican primary, Weber picked up 65 percent of the in-person vote in Rockland and in Westchester.

This article originally appeared on the Pearl River Patch