On Tuesday, the New York GOP garnered their best results since 2016, winning races across the state.
In Nassau County, Republican Anne Donnelly won the race for district attorney, an office no Republican had won since 2001, defeating Todd Kaminsky.
The New York Post reported:
Kaminsky and Democrats rolled back some of the changes in 2020 following a public backlash and complaints from law enforcement that criminals getting sprung immediately would commit more crimes. The Democrats took action to limit judges’ discretion to set bail after wresting control of the state Senate from Republicans. Kaminsky voted for bail reform as part of the 2019 state budget. He pushed for amendments to the law a year later to address complaints. But Donnelly and the GOP used the bail issue as a club against Kaminsky, a rising star in the Democratic Party.
Republican Bruce Blakeman declared victory in the race for Nassau County Executive. “Republican Elaine Phillips, a former state senator, also buried Democratic rival Ryan Cronin in the Nassau comptroller’s race, with 61 percent or 145,175 votes to 94,445 votes or 39 percent,” the New York Post noted.
In Suffolk County, Republican challenger Ray Tierney defeated incumbent Democratic District Attorney Tim Sini.
“Meanwhile, Democrat Khalid Bey’s attempt to oust independent Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh fell short in a solidly-blue city. And Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown appears to have won a write-in campaign against Democratic nominee India Walton, thanks in part to the strong support he enjoyed from the GOP,” Politico reported, adding, “There’s a chance that every race on the ballot in Colonie, the most populous upstate town east of Rochester, could flip to the GOP. Republicans gained a majority in the city of Hornell ‘for the first time in living memory.’”
Lawrence Levy, dean of Hofstra University’s national center for suburban studies, said of the New York results, “This is a red tsunami. It’s a complete wipeout. This is a sharp repudiation of the Democratic Party.” He pointed out that the GOP swept races for legislative seats in North Hempstead, a strong Democratic town.
The City reported of Brooklyn on Wednesday morning, “If undecided races tip in favor of GOP candidates, Republicans could double their current three Council seats.”
Following the release of election results on Tuesday, CNN political analyst Scott Jennings theorized, “Well, in algebra, we’re often trying to solve for ‘x’ and Republican politics, we’re often trying to solve for ‘T,’ for Trump and Youngkin figured it out. He kept Trump out of the race, basically, he didn’t campaign there. He didn’t wake up every day talking about it. He didn’t feel the need to respond to every, you know, grievance or whatever. He kept focused on the issues and heretofore, some Republican candidates would have said, ‘Well, then you’re running the risk of the MAGA voters not turning out.’”
“I think Republicans have an enormous chance to win in ’22 and ’24,” he later added. “Donald Trump is the least likely person to give the Republicans a chance to win back the White House, somebody who can do what Glenn Youngkin did, and put the coalition together, rural Counties, people who voted for Trump, people who didn’t vote for Trump, but like to vote Republican, suburban moms.”