Incumbents are victorious

State Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos (R- Rockville Centre) was winning handily in his bid for a 14th term late Tuesday night, with voters in the 9th Senate District giving him 66 percent of the vote against his Democratic challenger, George Sava of Woodmere. With more than 60 percent of the votes counted at press time, unofficial results from the Nassau County Board of Elections had Skelos receiving 33,639 votes to Sava’s 17,528.

“What a difference two years makes,” said Skelos. “Right here on Long Island … the nine Long Island Republicans are back.”

With a possible statewide shift in the Senate back to the Republicans, the news got even better for the veteran senator, who could return as the majority leader.

“I think I got a lot of support, considering I was a complete unknown,” Sava said. “I don’t feel bad. [But] if I’m still struggling to make my tax payments, I’m not willing to sit by and remain silent.”

In other races, Republican Brian Curran, the mayor of Lynbrook, was way ahead of his Democratic challenger, Dermond Thomas, of Valley Stream in the race for the 14th State Assembly seat vacated by Robert Barra, who decided not to seek re-election after serving the district for the past 10 years. In unofficial results, Curran had more than 60 percent of the votes with about half of the precincts reporting.

“I’m thankful for all the support,” Curran said, noting that he had a 2-to-1 margin in his hometown. “I promise I’ll work hard for the entire district.”

“What we see in Albany is just not working — it’s not effective,” said Thomas. “I’m committed to this either now or later, whenever the time may come.”

U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, a Democrat from Mineola running for her eighth term in the House of Representatives, was in a neck-and-neck battle with her Republican challenger, County Legislator Francis Becker, in the 4th Congressional District. At press time, with more than 55 percent of the vote counted, McCarthy had pulled ahead, leading Becker by a margin of approximately 10 percentage points.

The re-election of local legislators, both Republican and Democratic, was contrary to the anti-incumbent mood of voters across the country.

In statewide contests, as expected, gubernatorial Democratic Party candidate Andrew Cuomo beat his Republican rival, Carl Paladino. In Nassau County, Cuomo had a margin of 60 percent to Paladino’s 37 percent.

Nassau voters also favored Republican Dan Donovan over Eric Schneiderman for state attorney general and Republican challenger Harry Wilson over Thomas DiNapoli for state comptroller.

U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, both Democrats, won re-election.

Comments about this story? RVCEditor@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 208.