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\u201cThe challenges facing our nation and Long Island communities are daunting,\u201d she said. \u201cWe must not back down from the fight to defend the freedoms that make our great country a rich, resilient and generous nation. And our history teaches us that when Americans work together, we can overcome anything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms. Fleming lost a primary in 2020 and then was the first Democrat to declare candidacy for the 2022 race. The long journey ultimately ended early Wednesday morning as unofficial results from the Board of Elections show Mr. LaLota had secured 55.81% of the votes compared to 44.09% for Ms. Fleming. A handful of districts were not yet reported in those results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Republican state Sen. Anthony Palumbo of New Suffolk won reelection, as did Democrat Fred Thiele in the 1st Assembly District that now includes Southold Town. Mr. Palumbo had secured about 56.39% of the vote to defeat Democratic challenger Skyler Johnson, who finished with about 43.51%. Mr. Palumbo won his second term in the Senate after previously serving in the Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a team effort as you all know,\u201d Mr. Palumbo told the crowd in Patchogue late Tuesday before the results had been set. \u201cWe don\u2019t get here without the hard work of all our volunteers and, just as importantly, the hard work from our family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Incumbent Republican Jodi Giglio easily won reelection in the 2nd Assembly District that includes Riverhead Town. The former Riverhead councilwoman finished with more than 66% of the votes to win a second term.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Southold Town, voters approved Proposition 3 to allow a 0.5% real estate tax to fund affordable housing opportunities. The town would now have to adopt a plan to implement community housing funds. East Hampton and Southampton also approved the addition to the CPF, while in Shelter Island, unofficial results were showing an eight-vote difference with 889 against the measure and 881 in favor. Officials said there were absentee ballots still to be counted that could swing that vote. Riverhead Town opted against putting the measure up for vote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ms. Fleming did not speak at the Democrats\u2019 watch party at IBEW Local 104 in Holtsville. She issued a statement at around 11:40 p.m. updating voters on the delays in results. The Board of Elections had informed the candidates that a computer problem prevented the remote downloading of election results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At each of the watch parties, the party chairman addressed the crowd to share the bad the news that results would likely not come until the overnight hours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
GOP chair Jesse Garcia said there were 24 locations across the county where memory cards from each polling place are uploaded to a server.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat system is slow and not operating, so the decision has been made that all 1,400 memory cards from each voting machine will be brought back to Yaphank and uploaded accurately, properly, so that we have an accurate account of this election,\u201d he said shortly before 11 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rich Schaffer, the Democratic chair, made a similar statement around the same time at the Democratic watch party. Results were posted through the New York State Board of Elections website since county BOE site remains down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThey have the early voting results and they have absentee results, but they made a decision not to release anything or a substantial amount of results back into the building and then they\u2019ll start posting them on the website,\u201d Mr. Schaffer had said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before any results had been released from Suffolk County, Ms. Hochul declared victory in her race against Mr. Zeldin and delivered a speech thanking voters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTonight, you made your voices heard loud and clear. You made me the first woman ever elected to be the governor of the state of New York. But I\u2019m not here to make history. I\u2019m here to make a difference,\u201d she said to a crowd of supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Wednesday morning, results from the state BOE showed Ms. Hochul had about 52.8% of the vote compared to 46.99% for Mr. Zeldin, a much tighter race than New York has seen for governor in recent elections. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo secured about 62% of the statewide vote in 2018.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zeldin, speaking to reporters Tuesday morning after voting at the Mastic Beach firehouse, said he estimated he needed to win 30% or more of the New York City vote to take the election. Preliminary results showed Mr. Zeldin had secured about 514,000 votes in NYC, which placed him right at that 30% mark. It wasn\u2019t enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIf we get 35% or more inside New York City, it becomes very difficult to impossible to lose the race,\u201d he said Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mr. Zeldin, who briefly stopped by the Patchogue GOP party with his family as polls closed, took to the podium in New York City about midnight and did not concede, instead saying that the outstanding votes across the state, including in Suffolk County, would narrow the gap between himself and Ms. Hochul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe have been crushing the Election Day vote all across the entire state,\u201d Mr. Zeldin said. \u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen is that over the next couple of hours you\u2019re going to see the race continue to get closer and closer and closer and closer. This includes, by the way, on Long Island, you\u2019re going to see a massive victory coming out of Long Island, which is also going to be closing the gap.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The gap did close, but not enough for Mr. Zeldin to become the first Republican governor since George Pataki, who served from 1995 to 2006.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The AP called the governor\u2019s race at 12:52 a.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com\/wp-content\/blogs.dir\/3\/files\/JodiGiglio-2022-election-1024x683.jpg\")