NY suburbs last GOP strongholds flip as blue wave makes history on Long Island, Westchester
The tidal wave keeps rolling.Long Island’s Republican stronghold Hempstead shockingly flipped blue under the weight of the Democratic blue wave in Tuesday’s midterms — as the northern suburbs of Westchester and Rockland counties appeared to be headed the same way.Voters in the Nassau County county — the most populous in America — bucked Republican rising star John Ferretti from town supervisor, choosing Democrat Joe Scianablo in a stunning three-point victory.That ran against more than a century of Republican leadership — with Scianablo becoming only the second Democrat to run Hempstead in about 120 years.Democrats were also on track to take Hempstead’s town clerk job, with Joylette Williams leading incumbent Republican Kate Murray by a few hundred votes Wednesday about a day after polls closed.Those results mirrored the nationwide midterms, which left Republicans reeling after Democrats snatched majorities in both Congress and the Senate while flipping five governorships.And they weren’t just limited to Hempstead — the rest of Long Island voted for Gov.
Kathy Hochul over Bruce Blakeman, with the Nassau County executive’s own home turf even choosing the incumbent Democrat over him.District 17 just north of the city turned out for Democrats too, with the battleground territory ousting incumbent Republican Mike Lawler in favor of liberal Cait Conley.Deeply blue Westchester County was also favoring Democrats for numerous local positions, though some of those races remained up for grabs with votes still being counted Thursday after widespread Election Day ballot machine malfunctions.The county’s 17-seat Board of Legislators was on track to become all Democrat in the first time in history, after there was only one registered Republican and a registered Conservative Party member left holding seats, with tallies still being counted.Meanwhile, former Assemblyman Tom Abinanti appeared to be the first Democrat to ever win the supervisor seat in the West...