Nassau County GOP's big night

As of Wednesday morning, Republicans in Nassau County-wide races were inching toward a GOP sweep.

As the Herald went to press, Bruce Blakeman, the Republican Town of Hempstead councilman, had surged past incumbent Democrat Laura Curran in the race for county executive, with nearly all precincts reporting. At press time, an official winner had not been declared in the race, but Blakeman had 52 percent of the vote to Curran’s 47 percent. Close to 20,000 absentee ballots remained to be counted, however.

On Wednesday morning, Curran had not conceded the race, saying, "This is not over, and we must trust the process."

"I think the Republican Party was on the right side of the issues," Blakeman said. "The two biggest issues were taxes and people were very upset  with the broken reassessment system.  They were very upset they were not getting the tax relief they were entitled to."

What was certain: Republican Anne Donnelly, a 32-year career prosecutor in the Nassau district attorney’s office, was declared the winner in the race for D.A. Donnelly defeated State Sen. Todd Kaminsky, a Democrat from Long Beach. Donnelly had 60 percent of the vote.

Republican Elaine Phillips, a former state senator, was declared the winner in the race for county comptroller, besting Democrat Ryan Cronin. And Republican Maureen O'Connell appeared headed to victory over Democrat Justin Brown in the race for county clerk.

In the race for Town of Hempstead supervisor, Don Clavin also appeared headed toward an easy victory over Democrat Jason Abelove, at press time nearly doubling his vote.

Republican incumbents for Town Council and County Legislature who serve Oceanside and Island Park districts also remained ahead of their challengers with ease. Councilman Anthony D’Esposito garnered 68 percent of the votes, and Legislator Denise Ford, 69 percent.

Absentee ballots have yet to be counted. All results are therefore unofficial until certified.