Upstate voters stick with incumbents; GOP gets win in Suffolk

ALBANY, N.Y. — There were no major political upheavals in the battleground pockets of upstate New York, according to unofficial election results late Tuesday.

Voters appeared to stick with the incumbent party in the top race on the ballot in each of five most populous counties in the region. That includes races in the three largest, where incumbent executives sailed to reelection.

Republicans did continue to make gains in the politically crucial suburbs on Long Island. The biggest county race was in Suffolk County, an open seat being vacated by Democrat Steve Bellone, that is seen as a bellwether for the 2024 races for Congress.

And Republicans, who won all four House seats there in 2022, continued to show strength. Republican Ed Romaine was declared the winner over Democrat Dave Calone, according to the Associated Press, with a 57 percent to 43 percent lead. Romaine will become the first Republican to win the office since 1999.

In Erie, Democratic incumbent Mark Poloncarz won a fourth term over political newcomer Chrissy Casilio. He led 59 percent to 40 percent with nearly 90 percent of the county’s districts reporting.

Poloncarz was the only major upstate Democrat subjected to regular attacks for the state’s migrant surge this fall. But that didn’t seem to have dented his showing — his margin might wind up topping the 54 percent he received in 2019.

In Monroe, Democratic executive Adam Bello won a second term over Republican Mark Assini, the former Gates supervisor. Bello led 60 percent to 40 percent with about 90 percent of districts reporting.

Bello’s victory in 2019 was the first for his party in the county that includes Rochester in nearly 30 years, and it presaged Democratic gains in state legislative races in the area in 2020.

Republican Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon handily defeated Democratic Onondaga County Legislator Bill Kinne. He led 63 percent to 35 percent with the vast majority of districts reporting.

Ulster County — the center of the battleground congressional district held by Democratic Rep. Pat Ryan — remained a bright spot for New York Democrats even as Republicans made up lost ground elsewhere in 2021 and 2022.

Democrats flipped the district attorney’s office in that county by 77 votes in 2019. And this year’s race similarly is headed down to the wire, with Democrat Manny Nneji holding a 52 percent to 48 percent lead over Republican Michael Kavanagh.

And across the river in Dutchess County, Republican former state Sen. Sue Serino declared victory in the race to fill the county executive’s office that was vacated by Rep. Marc Molinaro in January.

She had 56 percent of the vote with all but a handful of districts reporting, similar to the 58 percent Molinaro won with in 2019.

Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, a Democrat, was unopposed as he won a fourth term.

Two state constitutional amendments on the ballot appeared to be on track for easy victories.

With about two-thirds of the state’s districts reporting, voters were supporting a proposal to raise the debt limit for school districts in small cities by a margin of 66 percent to 34 percent.

A question to extend the debt limits for local sewage projects appeared to win for the seventh decade in a row. That was up 70 percent to 30 percent.

Results on Long Island were far slower to come in than in the rest of the state.