Long Island was engulfed in a red wave this Tuesday after heavy Republican turnout saw traditionally Democratic districts flip in favor of Republican candidates.
In an unexpected result, voters elected Ray Tierney (R) as Suffolk County district attorney over incumbent Timothy Sini (D) with currently a 15% difference between the two candidates according to votes reported by the Suffolk County Board of Electors. Sini conceded on Tuesday evening.
“Change is coming and public safety will be restored,” Tierney’s campaign staff said on a Facebook post Tuesday night, referring to Tierney’s campaign promise to combat “rising street violence.” “Ray will lead with honesty, integrity and transparency.”
Ray Tierney takes the stage to declare his Suffolk County DA win pic.twitter.com/RpoC4c25DY
— Lisa L. Colangelo (@lisalcolangelo) November 3, 2021
In Suffolk County, all 18 county legislator seats were up for vote. The GOP took control of the county legislature from the Democrats after flipping four seats, unseating the presiding officer and the Democratic majority leader, according to unofficial Suffolk County Board of Election results. This is the first time the Republican party has gained control of the Suffolk County Legislature since 2005.
Suffolk’s 5th and 16th District races will be decided through absentee ballots that were casted before Nov. 2. Votes casted at the Student Activities Center, where many Stony Brook University residential students casted their votes, counted towards the 5th District race. Kara Hahn (D) currently leads Salvatore SB Isabella (R) by 74 votes.
Nassau County may face a similar upset, most notably in the race for county executive. Republican Bruce Blakeman declared victory over incumbent Democrat Laura Curran, leading by 11,000 votes. Curran has not conceded, saying in a statement that “there are many thousands of absentee ballots that still must be counted”.
“This is not over and we must trust the process,” Curran said. “Every Nassau resident who participated in this election is owed the opportunity to have their voice heard.”
Nassau County’s Board of Elections released voting data, showing that out of 223,147 voters who showed up to the polls, 96,787 were registered Republicans and over 76,385 were registered Democrats. Over 39,000 voters were unaffiliated.
