Republican leads race for state Assembly seat
Chris Tague is up by 288 votes in the 102nd District, but as many as 2,300 absentee ballots still must be counted.
Republican Chris Tague has emerged the leader, but not clear winner, in the special election to fill the vacant seat in New York state’s 102nd Assembly District.
The final outcome awaits the counting of absentee ballots.
According to unofficial results from the state Board of Elections, Tague, who is supervisor of the town of Schoharie, drew 8,547 votes in the Tuesday balloting, edging Democrat Aidan O’Connor, a Greene County legislator, who has 8,259 votes.
Wes Laraway, running on the Best Choice Party line, received 1,809 votes.
John Conklin, director of public information for the state Board of Elections, said 1,324 absentee ballots in the race had been returned as of Monday and another 986 were outstanding. The outstanding ballots could be counted if they are received by May 1, he said.
Conklin said the absentee ballots will be counted between May 1 and May 8.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Tague thanked his supporters for believing in and trusting him and thanked his opponents for a “spirited race,” noting voters “had some great choices.”
“I’m very confident our lead will maintain,” Tague said. “There are some procedural steps that need to take place, including opening absentee ballots, but I’m confident our lead will maintain if not grow. We’re moving forward. Our community has been without representation in the state Assembly for too long.”
O’Connor also thanked his supporters in a Facebook post.
“Since the margin is so narrow, this race will be determined by absentee ballots in the coming days and weeks,” O’Connor said.
The Assembly seat was vacated last fall by Republican Peter Lopez when he became a regional administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He had held the seat since January 2007.
If his lead holds, Tague will serve out the remainder of Lopez’s two-year term, which ends Dec. 31, and will have to run again in the November general election if he wants to keep the seat.
Tague, 48, is the general manager of Cobleskill Stone Products and has been Schoharie supervisor since 2015. O’Connor, 30, is the regional business manager for LifeNet and also works as a certified paramedic and flight paramedic. Laraway, 49, teaches high school economics and history in the Middleburgh Central School District.
The 102nd Assembly District includes all of Greene and Schoharie counties; the town of Saugerties in Ulster County; the towns of Stockport and Stuyvesant in Columbia County; and parts of Otsego, Delaware and Albany counties.
In Saugerties, O’Connor received 1,291 votes, while Tague had 719 votes and Laraway polled 17 votes.
Conklin said absentee ballots will be counted May 1 in Albany and Delaware counties, May 2 in Greene, Otsego and Ulster counties, May 7 in Columbia County, and May 8 in Schoharie County.