New York State — The primaries are over in the Empire State. The unofficial outcome, the final vote including write-ins, is not yet certified, however.
New York state’s Republican Party primary for governor was national news when Tea Party candidate Carl Paladino, a real estate mogul from Buffalo, handily beat Republican Party stalwart Rick Lazio, who last lost in a U.S. Senate race to Hillary Clinton.
In the Conservative primary, Lazio beat little-known Ralph Lorigo, so he remains in the governor’s race in November.
Using his own money to fund his campaign, Paladino took more than 60 percent of the Republican vote and will face Democratic nominee Andrew Cuomo in November. Before the primary, it was commonly assumed that now-Attorney General Cuomo would become New York’s next governor, but Paladino’s win and energetic base adds uncertainty at a time when many voters are disgusted with Albany politics.
Greg Edwards won in the Republican lieutenant governor’s primary, where he was Lazio’s running mate. The confusing result is that Edwards cannot appear on the ballot with Paladino as a Republican and with Lazio as the Conservative candidate. Under New York’s election laws this outcome is unacceptable. A solution has not yet been discovered. Tom Ognibene, Paladino’s running mate, lost to Edwards but will still appear on the ballot on the Tax Payer Party line that Paladino created, which had no primary.
The closest race on Tuesday was for the Democratic Party’s nomination for New York state attorney general, the jumping-off spot for Eliot Spitzer and Andrew Cuomo. Eric Schneiderman, a Harvard law school graduate who was elected to the state Senate in 1998 from Manhattan, and Kathleen Rice from Nassau battled each other and three other candidates. In Dutchess County, Schneiderman beat Rice by less than 100 votes, and won the state-wide race with only 34 percent of votes cast.
The winner of the nastiest primary was Greg Ball, who beat Mary Beth Murphy not only in the Republican primary but also as a write-in candidate for the Conservative Party in New York’s Senate District 40. Mike Kaplowitz, the unchallenged Democratic nominee, was hoping that Ball and Murphy would both appear on the ballot. No such luck.
In Dutchess County, Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand, who was appointed senator by Gov. David Patterson to take Hillary Clinton’s place when she became secretary of state, ran against little-known Gail Goode and received 83 percent of the county’s votes compared to 76 percent statewide. Gillibrand will face Republican Joseph DioGuardi, who defeated David Malpass by 16,778 votes.
Republican Jay Townsend from Cornwall-on-Hudson beat Gary Bentsen by 12 percentage points to secure the difficult right to run against Senate fixture Democrat Chuck Schumer, who has already amassed a campaign war chest of more than $23 million.
