Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo has prevailed over Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout in today's primary election.
Cuomo pulled in 60 percent of the vote in Monroe County, to Teachout's 37 percent; Randy Credico grabbed the remaining 3 percent. With 47 out of 62 counties reporting, Cuomo had received about 60 percent of the statewide vote, Teachout received 33 percent, and Credico received 3.5 perecent. That put Teachout well above the 20 percent or so of the vote that some political analysts predicted she'd get.
Kathy Hochul, Cuomo's lieutenant governor running mate, prevailed over Teachout's ticket mate, Tim Wu, in a closely watched race. Hochul, a former Congress member, received about 68 percent of the vote in Monroe County while Wu, a Columbia University professor, pulled in 32 percent. Statewide, with 47 of 62 counties reporting, Hochul received 55 percent of the vote and Wu received 37 percent.
There are a couple of ways to read tonight's results. On one hand, they should show Cuomo that some prime Democrats are unhappy with some of his policies. Teachout railed against Cuomo's embrace of tax breaks for corporations, banks, and the wealthy, and his reluctance to take a hard position against fracking.
But voter turnout also needs to be considered, and in Monroe County, it was abysmal. Nine percent of eligible Democrats had cast ballots countywide as of 8 p.m., which was the last time that the Board of Elections reported turnout figures. The numbers were likely a little higher by the time the polls closed at 9 p.m., but it's tough to read anything other than voter apathy into those numbers.
Monroe County Democrats
also had primaries for approximately 260 Democratic committee seats tonight — all in parts of Northeast and Northwest Rochester. It'll be a little bit before anyone can make sense of those races, but there was one notable outcome: Mayor Lovely Warren kept her committee seat in the 21st Legislative District.
And Ernest Flagler beat incumbent Leslie Rivera in a race for the 29th County Legislature District, which covers a portion of the city's Northeast. Flagler received 63 percent of the vote to Rivera's 37 percent.
This post has been updated to include the most current statewide vote totals.