Democratic incumbent Sam Roberts has once again beaten back a challenge from Republican John Sharon.

Roberts was returned to the 128th Assembly District seat by a margin of 18,342 to 14,106. He was first elected to the seat in 2010, beating out Sharon. He also defeated Sharon for the seat in 2012.

Though Roberts was one of three area Democrats reelected to his seat, he recognized that Democratic victories weren’t universal. He said it was a “tough night for Democrats” because of Maffei’s congressional loss and Toby Shelley’s loss in the county sheriff’s race.

Roberts partially attributed his victory to negative advertising from Sharon’s campaign.

“He played it enough over the last two weeks to resonate, to give people enough time to think about it,” Roberts said.

John Sharon was not available for comment on Election Night.

The district includes parts of Syracuse and the towns of Onondaga, Salina and DeWitt and its registered voters are about 45 percent Democrat.