Tedisco, Jordan take Senate seats
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. It took until 11:30 p.m. Tuesday before Saratoga County Republican Committee Chairman Carl Zeilman could announce to Republican supporters that the committee’s efforts had helped send incumbent Sen. Jim Tedisco back to the state Senate, where he will be joined by newly elected Republican, Daphne Jordan.
Tedisco, R- Glenville, declared victory over his Democratic opponent Michelle Ostrelich for the 49th Senate District seat around 10:45 p.m. Tuesday with an unofficial vote tally of 42,930 or 56 percent of the vote versus Ostrelich’s 43 percent.
County Republicans gathered on election night in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn in Saratoga Springs. Shortly after Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared victory at 9:45 p.m., Zeilman stepped to the room’s microphone.
“I can tell you there is not a blue wave in this country as Democrats thought. That is good news,” he said as the crowd gave a long round of applause.
However, after rousing remarks by several Republican candidates who had run for office unopposed, the wait for local election results continued. What had been a room filled with upbeat anticipation slowly became a sea of patient hopefulness mixed with steely resolve. It wasn’t until 10:45 p.m. when Zeilman announced Tedisco would be returning to the state Senate.
In his remarks, Tedisco admitted it had been a difficult election.
“Elections are never easy,” he said. “Some are harder than others. I think this was a difficult mid-term election for all of us. It’s bittersweet, it looks like I will not be in the majority next year because we didn’t do well in the rest of the state and that will be extremely, extremely difficult for the State of New York.”
Tedisco noted that he had spoken of just such an event happening during the campaign.
“One voice with one political affiliation from one region of the state is not a representative democracy,” he said.
With a one-vote majority in the Senate during the last session, he noted that the Republicans were able to beat back, what Tedisco views, as some terrible aspects of the state budget.
“This election proved one thing,” he said, “upstate New York knows it needs a leader, a fighter for them and it knows that Sen. Jim Tedisco has been that leader, will be that leader, and will continue to be a strong voice standing up and fighting for them.”
In announcing her electoral defeat surrounded by Schenectady Democrats at the party’s election night headquarters in the city, Ostrelich referenced her campaign platform.
“We knew a win in this district would be a challenge,” she said, “but fighting for issues that are so important, like passing the Child Victims Act and fixing our very broken health care system made it well worth the fight.”
Jordan declared victory in the race for the 43rd Senate District seat 45 minutes after Tedisco, at 11:30 p.m. At the time she was leading her opponent Aaron Gladd, a Democrat, with an unofficial tally of 45,601 votes or 52 percent of the vote to Gladd’s 47 percent and had yet to hear from Gladd.
Jordan is the legislative director for Sen. Kathy Marchione, R-Halfmoon, who is retiring at the end of her term. As an incumbent Town of Halfmoon councilwoman, Jordan is an experienced campaigner. This victory, however, moves her to another level.
She ran on a platform of being a working mother, the former owner of two small businesses and a community leader who believes in lower taxes and putting upstate first.
“I’m a real fighter for upstate and very proud that we did it tonight,” she said while at the podium. “I’ll serve as your voice in the state Senate and do what’s best for all of us. I am so proud to be that voice .”
Mid-term turnout, at least in southern Saratoga County, was greater than usual. A check of 10 election districts in Rexford, Clifton Park, and Halfmoon found that eight of the nine were seeing more than 50 percent turnout with several reaching 60 percent.
“It’s been a fantastic turnout,” said Margaret Kinosian at the Rexford Firehouse. “We’ve seen a lot of first timers, a lot of young people who just turned 18, and a lot who are older who are voting for the first time.”
Kinosian’s husband, Hank, was one of the election inspectors for Election District No. 11 at the firehouse.
“I was predicting we’d hit 70 percent just by looking at the early numbers we had,” he said. “Turnout has been great.”
“Awesome voter enthusiasm,” said Audrey Cohn, an election inspector for Election District No. 27 describing voter turnout.
A solid visual indicator of how busy the polling place had been was the absence of nearly all signs of the Rexford Auxiliary’s annual Election Day bake sale.
“We sold out,” said Barbara Capogna, the president of the Auxiliary. “Today has been as easy to move bake goods as a presidential election. We had muffins, breads, cookies, a few candy apples, 13 large pies and 50 small ones. They’re all gone.”
Two voters leaving the polling place agreed to discuss the issues that got them to the polls. Both asked that their names be kept confidential.
“I came over because of the governor’s race and the Senate race,” said one. “The important issues for me were gun control, taxes and health care.
“Gun control, the economy including jobs coming to the North Country, or not, and education were my issues,” said the second voter. “I’m happy to cast my vote but I’m also glad the TV ads will end.”