By Lauren Young
Staff writer
Hundreds of tears were shed and hugs were given as volunteers, supporters, campaign staff and family embraced one another in red-faced cheers at Anthony Brindisi’s Election Night Party at the Delta Hotel in Utica. After one of the most highly contested Congressional races in New York between Republican Incumbent Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-New Hartford) and Democratic challenger Brindisi (D-Utica) ended in a heart-racing finale late Election Day night, Brindisi overthrew Tenney by 1.2 percent, but her campaign manager says the race is still “too close to call.”
On Tuesday, Nov. 6, a little after 11 p.m., hundreds erupted in applause at Brindisi’s party at 200 Genesee Street after he was elected to New York’s 22nd Congressional District — receiving 117,779 votes, or 50.6 percent, compared to Tenney’s 116,357 votes, or 49.4 percent.
But according to the Tenney’s campaign manager, the race was still “too close to call” at 12:30 a.m.
“We’d like to thank the voters of this district, our supporters and volunteers for their hard work and dedication throughout this campaign,” said Campaign Manager Raychel Renna. “With over 10,000 absentee ballots left to count, this race is still too close to call.”
On Wednesday, Nov. 7, Renna issued a statement saying, “As of this afternoon, there are nearly 12,000 absentee ballots and thousands of affidavit ballots still to be counted across the district. Just today, Broome County identified several hundred votes that were not counted last night bringing the margin separating the candidates to just 1,293 votes. This race remains too close to call. This race will be decided when all the votes have been counted, and we will continue to work with our legal team and the electoral boards in each county to ensure the votes are counted accurately and fairly.”
The 22nd Congressional District includes Chenango, Cortland, Madison and Oneida counties, and parts of Broome, Herkimer, Oswego and Tioga counties.
“Who’s ready to go to Washington with me?” shouted a victorious Brindisi to his crowd of supporters after his close win late Tuesday night. “This is a very emotional night for all of us, a very special night for all of us, and I love you guys — I love ya.”
Brindisi said he recognized many of his supporters in the crowd from his campaign’s announcement over a year ago — also in Utica.
“We started this campaign together with just one idea —that we were gonna put working people, the middle class, ahead of the special interests,” he said. “It’s time for us to do the one single thing voters in this district have been asking for years — to roll up our sleeves, go to work in Washington and serve this community.”
Brindisi thanked all his supporters, campaign staff, volunteers, friends and family for their support and dedication over the past year and discussed his goals for Congress, joined by several family members onstage.
Brindisi, a state assemblyman, campaigned as a centrist and promotes his bipartisanship, though he has received support from many progressive groups. He promotes universal gun background checks, investing in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS), the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Career and Technical Education (CTE) school programs, Planned Parenthood and the Paycheck Fairness Act, but is against privatizing Social Security or Medicare. He seeks to reform systems like the Veterans Administration and campaign finance system and according to his website, refused to accept Corporate PAC money in his campaign.
Some of Brindisi’s endorsements included End Citizen’s United, Sierra Club, American Nurses Association, National Education Association, NARAL Pro-Choice America and Planned Parenthood Action Fund.
U.S. Rep. Claudia Tenney was a first-term incumbent and a former state lawmaker. She is a proponent for gun rights, tighter border security, term limits on legislators and leaders and opposes increasing income tax rates,
same-sex marriage and abortion. She voted against START-UP NY in the state legislature and has co-sponsored a bill giving parents the choice to opt out of Common Core and supported repealing the Affordable Care Act.
Some of Tenney’s endorsements included President Donald Trump, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the National Rifle Association, RightNow Women PAC, United Mine Workers of America and the Susan B. Anthony List.
