Election 2018

Brian Curran falls to Judy Griffin in 21st Assembly District

Todd Kaminsky, Kathleen Rice, and Melissa Miller retain seats

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Democrat Judy Griffin defeated incumbent Brian Curran in the 21st Assembly District in Tuesday’s election. Griffin, a Rockville Centre community activist and a former director of community outreach for State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, took 53 percent of the vote to unseat Curran, of Lynbrook, who garnered 47 percent.

“I’m thankful that Nassau County recognized that we could do much better,” Griffin told a crowd of about 300 at the Garden City Hotel Tuesday night.

Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Beach, topped Republican challenger Francis X. Becker, of Lynbrook, to keep his seat in the 9th Senate District. A former federal prosecutor, Kaminsky once again focused his campaign on ethics reform and ending corruption in Albany, which seemed to resonate with voters, as he earned 62 percent of the vote to Becker’s 38 percent.

The Democrats won enough seats to earn a majority in the State Senate.

Democratic U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice held her 4th Congressional District seat by defeating Ameer Benno, winning re-election with 61 percent of the vote to Benno’s 39 percent.

Republican Melissa Miller earned 54 percent of the vote, to challenger Juan Vides’s 45 percent, to keep her seat in the 20th Assembly District.

"It’s a very good thing to have balance," Miller said at Mirelle’s restaurant in Westbury after her victory, "and when there’s no balance, when there’s just one side, that’s a scary and dangerous thing."