By JEFF MORRIS
Amid a turbulent and emotional national election, the results locally were actually quite mundane. Incumbents were victorious in every contested race, according to unofficial results.
Congress
Rep. Mike Lawler, running on the Republican and Conservative lines, handily overcame a challenge from former congressman Mondaire Jones, a Democrat, in the 17th Congressional District. With 676 of 681 election districts reporting, Lawler had 191,681 votes, or 52 percent, to Jones’ 166,361, or 45 percent. Anthony Frascone, on the ballot on the Working Families line but not endorsed by the Working Families Party, had 7,186 votes, or 1.9 percent, and was not a factor.
Lawler’s vote percentage of 52 percent was higher than what he received in 2022, when he defeated then-incumbent Sean Patrick Maloney with 50.6 percent of the vote. As was the case in 2022, the Democrat actually won in Westchester County, with Jones outpolling Lawler 55 percent to 43 percent, but that was not enough to overcome his poor showing in Dutchess, Putnam and Rockland, where Lawler won with 60 percent, 57 percent, and 56 percent, respectively.
State Senate
In the 40th Senate District, which includes Bedford and Lewisboro, incumbent Pete Harckham, on the Democratic and Working Families lines, again defeated repeat challenger Gina Arena, running on the Republican and Conservative lines.
With totals in from 279 of 284 districts, Harckham had 84,789 votes, or 50.7 percent, to Arena’s 74,299, or 44.4 percent. Again in a district that extends over three counties, Harckham won big in Westchester, with 59 percent of the vote, while Arena received the most votes in Putnam, with 58 percent there, and Rockland, where she got 57 percent. The Rockland portion of the district is small, with only 8,195 votes cast.
The 37th Senate District, which includes Pound Ridge and is entirely in Westchester, saw incumbent Shelley Mayer, on the Democratic and Working Families lines, defeat first-time challenger Tricia Lindsay, on the Republican and Conservative lines, by a lopsided margin. Mayer had 86,509 votes, or 62 percent, to Lindsay’s 53,646, or 38 percent.
State Assembly
Chris Burdick ran unopposed in the 93rd Assembly District, and amassed 46,846 votes.
District Attorney
In the race for Westchester County District Attorney, which was an open seat because Miriam Rocah chose not to run again, Democrat Susan Cacace easily defeated Republican John Sarcone, 256,599, or 64 percent, to 145,364, or 36 percent.
Ballot Proposals
There were two proposals on the back of the ballot, and they met very different fates. Ballot proposal number one, which puts equal rights protections for a variety of groups into the state constitution, was approved by a large margin statewide, 4,480,820 to 2,766,366, or 62 percent to 38 percent, though it was not supported in a number of counties. In Westchester, it had an even greater approval percentage, 68 percent to 32 percent.
However, the Westchester County proposition to change the number of years in county legislators’ terms from two to four went down to defeat, 57 percent to 43 percent.
U.S. Senate
Incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand, Democratic and Working Families, had no trouble defeating challengers Michael Sapraicone, Republican and Conservative, and Diane Sare, LaRouche, to win another term. With 95 percent of votes counted, Gillibrand had 58.4 percent to Sapraicone’s 41.1 percent and Sare’s 0.5 percent. In Westchester, Gillibrand ran far ahead of her statewide total, with 65 percent of the vote to Sapraicone’s 35 percent, and Sare again below 1 percent.
Other uncontested races
In Bedford, town clerk Allie Whalen amassed 6,173 votes on the Democratic line, while town justice David Menken, a fellow Democrat, got just a few less, with 6,165.
In Lewisboro, town justice John Pappalardo received 5,152 votes in his uncontested bid for another term.
That other election
There was an election for president as well, and the results in Westchester did not quite match those in the rest of the country. The Harris/Walz ticket received 63 percent of the vote, while the Trump/Vance ticket received 37 percent. Statewide, Harris/Walz got 55.8 percent and Trump/Vance, 44.2 percent. The overall results of this election are widely available elsewhere.