ELECTION 2015

Here are the results from major local races in the Nov. 3 general elections in New York and Massachusetts. A short summary follows the vote tallies from each county.

 

MASSACHUSETTS

BERKSHIRE COUNTY

 

North Adams mayor
* Richard Alcombright ....................... 2,430 (54.2%)
John Barrett III .................................... 2,054 (45.8%)

 

Pittsfield mayor
* Daniel Bianchi ….............................. 4,502 (40.3%)
Linda Tyer ………............…............... 6,661 (59.7%)

 

One incumbent mayor lost by a landslide in Berkshire County, but the other came back to win after placing second in September’s preliminary election.
In Pittsfield, the November turnout was larger but the result was the same as in September: Tyer, the city clerk, trounced Bianchi, a two-term incumbent who previously had served on the City Council. Tyer faulted the incumbent’s handling of the city’s crime problems, and she cast herself as the heir to Bianchi’s predecessor, former Mayor James Ruberto.
In North Adams, Alcombright turned back a strong challenge from Barrett, the man he defeated in 2009. Barrett, who previously had served as mayor for 26 years, said the city under Alcombright wasn’t moving fast enough on economic development issues. But Alcombright’s supporters defended his record and said the city wasn’t ready to return to the combative style of Barrett.
As in other municipal race in Massachusetts, both mayoral elections were nonpartisan.

 

NEW YORK

 

COLUMBIA COUNTY

 

District attorney
* Paul Czajka (R, C, I, RF) ….............. 8,391 (53.9%)
Kenneth L. Golden (D, WE) ............... 7,184 (46.1%)

 

Chatham supervisor
* Jesse DeGroodt (R, C, I) ................…. 600 (47.7%)
Maria C. Lull (D, i) ................................ 658 (52.3%)

 

Greenport supervisor
Edward F. Nabozny (D, WF, I) .......…… 601 (50.9%)
* John J. Porreca Sr. (R, C) ...................... 580 (49.1%)

 

Hudson mayor
* William H. Hallenbeck Jr. (R, C, I) ....... 833 (49.2%)
Tiffany M. Hamilton (D, WF) ................ 860 (50.8%)

 

Kinderhook supervisor
* Patrick M. Grattan (R, C, I) .............. 1,482 (61.0%)
Matthew L. Nelson (D, WF) .................... 948 (39.0%)

 

New Lebanon supervisor
* Michael K. Benson (R, C, I) ................. 313 (41.2%)
Colleen Theresa Teal (D) ……............... 447 (58.8%)

 

Stuyvesant supervisor
Lee Jamison (D, I) ..,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.. 316 (44.3%)
* Ron Knott (R, C) ................................. 397 (55.7%)

 

The race for mayor of Hudson ended in a cliffhanger, but Hamilton’s election-night lead held up after absentee ballots were counted. She defeated Hallenbeck, a two-term incumbent and former city police officer. Hamilton, who had served on the city school board since 2012, had called for remaking the city government to be “more reflective of the values and the makeup of its population,” and she faulted Hallenbeck for a lack of progress on such issues as attracting a supermarket to the city.
Elsewhere in the county, voters tossed out three incumbent Republican supervisors, in Chatham, Greenport and New Lebanon. But the GOP prevailed in the only countywide contest, where Czajka won re-election by a healthy margin.

 

RENSSELAER COUNTY

 

Brunswick supervisor
Edward F. Dyer (D) .............................. 1,131 (35.4%)
* Philip H. Herrington (R, C, I) ...........2,063 (64.6%)

East Greenbush supervisor
Jack Conway (i) ................................... 2,110 (46.6%)
* Keith A. Langley (R, C, RF) ................ 1,079 (23.8%)
David G. VanWormer (D, G, WF, I) ...... 1,333 (29.4%)

 

Grafton supervisor
Ingrid L. Gundrum (R, C, I, RF) ….......… 357(51.8%)
Francis M. Higgins Jr. (D) ….................... 331 (48.0%)

 

North Greenbush supervisor
Louis J. Desso (R, C, I, RF) .................. 1,859 (59.3%)
Ronald M. Sinico (D, G, WF) .............. 1,275 (40.6%)

 

Troy mayor
Jack B. Cox Jr. (i) …................................... 131 (1.8%)
James R. Gordon (R, C, G, I, RF) ……. 2,405(32.5%)
William Patrick Madden (D) ............... 3,020 (40.8%)
Rodney G. Wiltshire Jr. (WF) ............... 1,842 (24.9%)

 

Only four town supervisor races in the county were contested, and only one incumbent lost -- in East Greenbush, where Langley’s bid for a second term was undone by his support for a now-defunct casino proposal. Instead, voters chose Conway, a college professor running as an independent, and elected two of his allies to town council seats.
In Troy, Madden won the race for the mayor’s office after the release in October of a tape of Gordon’s wife calling 911 after a domestic dispute with her husband.

 

SARATOGA COUNTY

 

Hadley supervisor
Andrew R. Bovee (i) ................................. 59 (14.4%)
* Arthur M. Wright (R, C) …….............. 350 (85.6%)

 

Malta supervisor
Vincent R. DeLucia (R, C, I, RF) .......... 1,732 (59.8%)
Cynthia C. Young (D, WF) ................... 1,164 (40.2%)

 

Moreau supervisor
Gardner Congdon (R, C) ................... 1,151 (50.7%)
* Preston L. Jenkins Jr. ......................... 1,118 (49.3%)

 

Saratoga Springs mayor
John F. Safford (R, C, I, RF) ................ 3,176 (45.1%)
* Joanne D. Yepsen (D, WF) …............. 3,861 (54.9%)

 

Saratoga Springs finance commissioner
Kenneth Ivins (R, RF) …….................. 2,674 (39.4%)
* Michele Madigan (D, WF) ................ 4,109 (60.6%)

 

Saratoga Springs public safety commissioner
* Christian A. Mathiesen (D, WF, I) ...... 3,721 (54.7%)
Richard C. Wirth (R, C, RF) ………...... 3,164 (45.3%)

 

Saratoga Springs public works commissioner
William J. McTygue (D, WF) ................ 3,215 (46.5%)
* Anthony “Skip” Scirocco (R, C, I) ... 3,705 (53.5%)

 

The biggest loser in the hotly contested city election in Saratoga Springs was surely the Saratoga PAC, a new group backed by local developers that raised tens of thousands of dollars in an effort to reshape the city’s political discourse.
The group targeted the incumbent mayor, public safety commissioner and public works commissioner for defeat. But all three won re-election -- and by wider margins than they achieved two years ago.
The only city candidate endorsed by Saratoga PAC to win a contested city race was Madigan, who had said she didn’t want the group’s support.
Elsewhere in the county, Jenkins, Moreau’s four-term incumbent supervisor, lost to Congdon, who had served more than a decade as supervisor beginning in the 1970s. The race turned at least in part on development issues; Jenkins had backed a plan, rejected by voters, to extend sewer lines along Route 9 to allow more intensive development.

WARREN COUNTY

 

Family Court judge
Paulette M. Kershko (R, C, RF) .......... 7,261 (57.2%)
Rob Smith (D, WF, I) ........................... 5,434 (42.8%)

 

County sheriff
Larry Cleveland (D, WF) ..................... 4,847 (36.2%)
* Nathan Bud York (R, C, I, RF) ......... 8,546 (63.8%)

 

Queensbury at-large county supervisor (four seats)
* Douglas Beaty (R, C, RF) ............................... 3,733
Daniel Kane (I, RF) ............................................ 1,596
Ronald Montesi (R, C, I) ................................. 3,126
* Rachel Seeber (R, C, I, RF) .......................... 4,088
* Matthew D. Sokol (R, I) …............................ 3,068
David J. Strainer (D, C) ……….......................… 2,957

 

Glens Falls 3rd Ward supervisor
Claudia F. Braymer (D) ......................... 386 (56.8%)
Dennis Brower (i) ........................................ 33 (4.8%)
W. Gary Patton (R, I, RF) ........................ 261 (38.4%)

Glens Falls 5th Ward supervisor
Bennet F. Driscoll Jr. (D, C) ..................... 223 (44.5%)
Matt MacDonald (R, I, RF) .................... 278 (55.5%)

 

In one of the two countywide races, Kershko easily won election to a 10-year judgeship after serving for nearly a decade as clerk to Family Court Judge Timothy Breen, whom she will now serve alongside.
In the other, Cleveland fell far short in a bid to reclaim the office he lost to York in 2007.

 

WASHINGTON COUNTY

 

Dresden supervisor
Joyce M. Banks (R, i) ................................ 64 (32.0%)
* George Gang (D) …............................ 136 (68.0%)

 

Easton supervisor
John Rymph (i) ....................................... 239 (39.9%)
* Daniel B. Shaw (R, C, i) ....................... 360 (60.1%)

 

Fort Ann supervisor
* Darlene Z. Dumas (i)………......…........ 421 (42.7%)
Samuel J. Hall (C, I, RF) ............................. 57 (5.8%)
Richard F. Moore (R) …………….......... 507 (51.5%)

 

Jackson supervisor
John T. Pedersen (i) ................................ 115 (30.9%)
Jay Skellie (R, i) ..................................... 257 (69.1%)

 

Kingsbury supervisor
Frederick R. Gage (i) ............................... 210 (18.2%)
Dana Hogan (R, C, I) ............................ 943 (81.8%)

 

Only five of the county’s 17 supervisor seats were contested, and only one incumbent was defeated: In Fort Ann, Dumas trailed after losing Republican primary to Moore in September.
Voters in Jackson and Kingsbury chose new town supervisors to succeed two longtime incumbents who stepped down, Alan Brown of Jackson and James Lindsay of Kingsbury.
— Compiled by Fred Daley