By Sarina Trangle
New Yorkers returned Gov. Andrew Cuomo to Albany with 52.8 percent of the vote and sent the same all-Democratic Queens’ delegation of state legislators back to the capital, according to unofficial state Board of Elections results.
Preliminary Congressional results from the BOE also included no surprises, with all six of the borough’s Democratic incumbents winning Tuesday.
But borough Republicans were celebrating when results came in Wednesday, noting the GOP was poised to control the national and state Senates.
Robert Hornak, a Queens GOP spokesman, said he believed this would quell Mayor Bill de Blasio’s influence in Albany and force the governor to collaborate with Republicans more frequently. The mayor campaigned vigorously for Democratic Senate hopefuls around the state.
“I don’t think this is going to be tremendously different for the way business goes except that there are going to be a couple of issues the governor might have been able to get through … like the abortion rights extension, minimum wage,” Hornak said. “There’s going to have to be a lot more give-and-take on these issues.”
Michael Reich, executive secretary of the Queens Democratic Party, could not immediately be reached for comment.
State Sen. Michael Gianaris (D-Astoria), chairman of the Democratic State Senate Campaign Committee, expressed optimism about Democratic priorities in a statement.
“Senate Democrats will continue working to make life better for all New Yorkers by enacting a real increase in the minimum wage, passing meaningful ethics and campaign finance reform, and fighting for women’s equality,” Gianaris said. “We hope that members of other conferences join us in supporting these measures that are overwhelmingly supported by a majority of New Yorkers.”
Cuomo received 52.8 percent of the vote compared to Republican Robert Astornio’s 39.2 percent, Green Howie Hawkins’ 4.8 percent, Libertarian Michael McDermott’s 0.4 percent, and Sapient Party candidate Steven Cohn’s 0.1 percent, with 93 percent of election districts reported, unofficial BOE results show.
The Democrats also held onto the state comptroller position — with the incumbent Thomas DiNapoli securing 57.1 percent of the vote; Republican Robert Antonacci, 34.5 percent; Green Theresa Portelli, 2.5 percent; and Libertarian John Clifton, 0.7 percent — and the attorney general spot — with incumbent Eric Schneiderman winning 53 percent of the vote; Republican John Cahill, 39.1 percent; Green Ramon Jimenez, 2.1 percent; and Libertarian Carl Person, 0.6 percent, according to unofficial BOE results with 94 percent of election districts reported.
The Democrats captured a larger share of votes in Queens. Unofficial BOE results show Cuomo taking 73.5 percent of the vote in the borough, compared to Astornio’s 20.8 percent; DiNapoli amassing 72 percent of the vote, compared to Antonacci’s 19.9 percent; and Schneiderman securing 72.6 percent of the vote compared to Cahill’s 20 percent, with roughly 99 percent of election districts reported.
Voters in Queens said they mostly came to cast ballots because they do so regularly.
“All of my friends say, ‘If you don’t vote, I don’t want to hear you complain,’” Mee-on Allwine said while leaving a poll site at PS 144 in Forest Hills.
Those who did express interest in a particular race tended to focus on the gubernatorial election.
“I don’t trust Cuomo, like he got rid of that crime investigation panel with all the assistant attorney generals on it,” said William P. Frost, an attorney in Forest Hills. “And his Women’s Equality line, I think it’s goofy.”
