Election Results 2022
The results are in, and while some races are clear, one big Rockaway race is too close to call.
Millions of voters across the state took to the polls in early voting and on Election Day on Tuesday, November 8, and as the polls closed at 9 p.m., results started to pour in.
The race to watch in Rockaway was the race for state Assembly in District 23. And it’s the race that remains too close to call. As votes were counted, like a ping pong match, current Assemblywoman Stacey Pheffer Amato (D) and republican challenger Thomas Sullivan kept taking tight leads over one another but by the end of the night, Sullivan was ahead. With nearly 95% of scanners reported according to the NYC Board of Elections, Sullivan is in the lead by 246 votes (15,246 or 50.37%) to Amato’s 15,000 votes or 49.56%. But it isn’t over. All absentee ballots still have to be counted and nothing is official until all ballots are counted and certified by the Board of Elections, so stay tuned on this one.
The other Rockaway race to watch was that for Congressional District 5. This year, Paul King, president of the Belle Harbor Property Owners Association, put up a challenge for longtime Congressman Gregory Meeks (D). King hit the streets, working his way all across the district to meet with and try to sway constituents to try something different, but in the end, Meeks swept the race, winning 72.34% of the vote (97,981) over King’s 23.92% (29,577).
The big race of the night, that all New Yorkers were watching, was the race for governor. Republican Lee Zeldin stepped up to the plate to give current Governor Kathy Hochul a challenge in what turned out to be a close race. However, for Zeldin, it wasn’t close enough, leading him to concede on Wednesday. As we go to press, Hochul took 52.16% of the vote (2,957,602) while Zeldin had 47.02% (2,666,065).
Some races resulted in larger democrat wins. State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli won with 55% of the vote over Republican Paul Rodriguez’ 41.91%. Attorney General Leticia James held her seat, winning 52.65% of the vote over Michael Henry’s 44.78%. Longtime U.S. Senator for NY Chuck Schumer was declared winner right away with 55.05% of the vote over Republican Joe Pinion’s 42.54%.
In some other interesting election night results, Senator James Sanders, who ran unopposed in Rockaway’s Senate District 10, only won 71.07% of the vote (40,786). There were 16,010 ballots that were left blank in this race (27.9%) and 580 write in votes. In Assembly District 31, Assemblyman Khaleel Anderson also ran unopposed and received 83.7% of the vote (14,831). There were 2,793 ballots left blank in this race and 93 write ins.
All four of the ballot proposals in this year’s race were approved. Proposal 1 had 68% Yes, Proposal 2 had 72% Yes, Proposal 3 had 70% Yes and Proposal 4 had 81% Yes.
Please note, these results are only what was reported by the NYC and NYS Board of Elections by Wednesday afternoon, and the numbers may change.