hill country observerThe independent newspaper of eastern New York, southwestern Vermont and the Berkshires

 

News & Issues December 2018-January 2019

 

ELECTION 2018 RESULTS

 

MASSACHUSETTS

 

GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
* Charles Baker and Karyn E. Polito (R) 1,781,341 (66.8%)
Jay Gonzalez and Quentin Palfrey (D) ..... 885,770 (33.2%)

 

U.S. SENATOR
Shiva Ayyadurai (i) .......................................... 91,710 (3.4%)
Geoff Diehl (R) ........................................... 979,210 (36.2%)
* Elizabeth A. Warren (D)...................... 1,633,371 (60.4%)

 

ATTORNEY GENERAL
* Maura Healey (D) ............................... 1,874,209 (70.0%)
James R. McMahon III (R) ........................ 804,832 (30.0%)

 

SECRETARY OF STATE
Anthony M. Amore (R) .............................. 671,300 (25.3%)
* William Francis Galvin (D) ................. 1,877,065 (70.9%)
Juan G. Sanchez Jr. (GR).............................. 100,428 (3.8%)

 

STATE TREASURER
* Deborah B. Goldberg (D) ................... 1,761,282 (67.7%)
Jamie R. Guerin (GR) ..................................... 92,090 (3.5%)
Keiko M. Orrall (R) .................................... 749,596 (28.8%)

 

STATE AUDITOR
* Suzanne M. Bump (D) ........................ 1,606,518 (62.2%)
Helen Brady (R) ......................................... 801,583 (31.0%)
Daniel Fishman (L) ...................................... 108,953 (4.2%)
Edward J. Stamas (GR) ................................... 67,355 (2.6%)

 

Governor’s Council, 8th District
Mike Franco (i) ............................................ 70,295 (25.4%)
* Mary E. Hurley (D) ................................ 206,791 (74.6%)


Ballot Propositions

Question 1 -- Mandate nurse staffing levels
A Yes vote supported a proposal to limit how many patients could be assigned to each registered nurse in Massachusetts hospitals and certain other health care facilities.
Yes .................................................................. 787,511 (29.8%)
No .......................................................... 1,858,483 (70.2%)

 

Question 2 -- Limit corporate campaign spending
A Yes vote supported creation of a citizens commission to recommend possible amendments to the U.S. Constitution -- to establish that “corporations do not have the same constitutional rights as human beings and that campaign contributions and expenditures may be regulated.”
Yes .......................................................... 1,871,989 (71.4%)
No .................................................................. 751,447 (28.6%)

 

Question 3 -- Ban transgender discrimination
A Yes vote supported retention of a law passed by the Legislature in 2016 that adds gender identity to the state’s list of prohibited grounds for discrimination in places of public accommodation, such as restaurants and shopping malls.
Yes .......................................................... 1,806,742 (67.8%)
No .................................................................. 857,401 (32.2%)


OVERVIEW
Republican Gov. Charlie Baker won a second term by a landslide, despite Massachusetts’ deep blue tint, defeating Jay Gonzalez, a former administration and finance secretary under Baker’s predecessor, Deval Patrick.
Despite Baker’s victory, however, Democratic incubments easily won re-election to every other statewide office. Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren coasted to second term, and Democrats retained all nine of the state’s U.S. House seats.
In the lone U.S. House seat covering western Massachusetts, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, was unopposed for re-election. With Democrats winning a House majority, Neal, a 30-year incumbent, is set to ascend to the chairmanship of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, where he is expected to play a major role in crafting legislation affecting health care, pensions and Social Security.
Across the state, Democrats padded their already lopsided legislative majorities. In the state Senate, Democrats will now outnumber Republicans 34-6, compared with a 31-7 edge (with two vacancies) before the election. In the state House, the new balance of power will be 127 Democrats to 32 Republicans with one independent, up from a 117-34 edge (with two independents and seven vacancies) before the vote.
Locally, state Sen. Adam Hinds, D-Pittsfield, and the Berkshires’ four state representatives -- Democrats John Barrett III, Paul W. Mark, Tricia Farley-Bouvier and William “Smitty” Pignatelli -- all were re-elected without opposition.
In the race for Berkshire district attorney, local lawyer Andrea Harrington fended off a write-in challenge from incumbent Paul Caccaviello, whom she had narrowly defeated in a three-way Democratic primary in September. Caccaviello, who had worked in the district attorney’s office for three decades before being appointed to the top job earlier this year, garnered more than 18,000 write-in votes, but that was no match for Harrington’s vote count of more than 31,000.
Among the three statewide ballot propositions, Question 1, which would have established mandatory staffing levels for nurses at hospitals and some other health care facilities across the state, was the most hotly contested but wound up losing by a large margin.
Question 1 was strongly supported by the Massachusetts Nurses Association; the union argued the propsosed standards would lead to better patient care and outcomes. But organizations representing hospitals warned the requirements would raise costs dramatically and could force some hospitals to close.
Although the Yes side was ahead in one mid-September poll, public opinion appeared to shift sharply against Question 1 in the campaign’s final weeks.

 

 

NEW YORK


GOVERNOR AND LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
* Andrew Cuomo and Kathy C. Hochul (D, I, WE) .............. ................................................................. 3,353,495 (59.0%)
Howie Hawkins and Jia Lee (G) ...................... 95,716 (1.7%)
Stephanie Miner & Michael J. Volpe (i) ......... 51,367 (0.9%)
Marc Molinaro and Julie Killian (R,C,RF)2,089,228 (36.8%)
Larry Sharpe and Andrew C. Hollister (L) ..... 90,816 (1.6%)

 

STATE COMPTROLLER
* Thomas P. DiNapoli (D, I, RF, WE,WF) 3,728,386 (66.6%)
Mark Dunlea (G) .............................................. 63,965 (1.1%)
Cruger E. Gallaudet (L) ................................... 32,353 (0.6%)
Jonathan Trichter (R, C) .......................... 1,776,535 (31.7%)

 

ATTORNEY GENERAL
Christopher B. Garvey (L) ............................... 41,183 (0.7%)
Letitia A. James (D, I, WF) ...................... 3,454,513 (62.0%)
Nancy B. Sliwa (RF) .......................................... 24,723 (0.4%)
Michael Sussman (G) ....................................... 67,021 (1.2%)
Keith Wofford (R, C) ................................. 1,990,157 (35.7%)

 

U.S. SENATOR
Chele Chiavacci Farley (R, C, RF) ............ 1,882,984 (33.5%)
* Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D, I, WE, WF) .... 3,733,194 (66.5%)

 

U.S. REPRESENTATIVE -- 19th District
(11 counties including Columbia and most of Rensselaer)
Antonio Delgado (D, WE, WF) ................... 132,001 (50.2%)
* John J. Faso (R, C, I, RF) ........................... 124,408 (47.3%)
Steven Greenfield (G) ........................................ 4,037 (1.5%)
Diane Neal (i) ..................................................... 2,619 (1.0%)


U.S. representative -- 20th District
(Albany, Schenectady, southern Saratoga and parts of Montgomery and Rensselaer counties)
* Paul D. Tonko (D, RF, WE, WF) ............ 164,325 (66.1%)
Joe Vitollo (R) ............................................... 84,178 (33.9%)

 

U.S. representative -- 21ST District
(11 counties including Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga)
Tedra L. Cobb (D, WE, WF) ........................ 90,526 (41.8%)
Lynn Kahn (G) .................................................. 3,211 (1.5%)
* Elise M. Stefanik (R, C, I, RF) ............... 122,863 (56.7%)

 

State Supreme Court Justice -- 3rd District
(Columbia, Rensselaer, Albany, Greene, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties) (2 seats, 14- year terms)
Peter A. Lynch (D, WF) .......................................... 166,500
* William E. McCarthy (R, C, I) ................................ 142,401
Margaret T. Walsh (D, I, WF) ................................. 189,501


STATE SENATE

43rd district (Columbia County and parts of Rensselaer, Saratoga and Washington counties)
Aaron W. Gladd (D, WE, WF) ..................... 53,902 (45.9%)
Daphne V. Jordan (R, C, I, RF) .................. 63,540 (54.1%)

 

44th district (parts of Rensselaer and Albany counties)
* Neil D. Breslin (D, I, WF) ........................ 63,559 (70.4%)
Christopher F. Davis (R, C, RF) ................... 26,779 (29.6%)

 

45th district (Warren, Essex, most of Washington and three other counties to the north)
* Elizabeth O’C. Little (R, C, I, RF) ........... 59,710 (64.7%)
Emily L. Martz (D, WF) ................................ 32,535 (35.3%)

 

49th district (Fulton, Hamilton and parts of Herkimer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties)
Michelle Ostrelich (D, WE, WF) ................. 41,317 (40.5%)
* James N. Tedisco (R, C, I, RF) ............... 60,826 (59.5%)


State Assembly

102nd district (Greene and Schoharie plus parts of Columbia, Albany and Delaware counties)
Aidan S. O’Connor Jr. (D, WE, WF) ........... 18,734 (44.8%)
* Christopher Tague (R, C, I, RF) .............. 23,096 (55.2%)

 

106th district (parts of Columbia and Dutchess counties)
* Didi Barrett (D, I, WF) ............................ 25,547 (53.8%)
William G. Truitt (R, C, RF, WE) ................ 21,932 (46.2%)

107th district (parts of Columbia, Rensselaer and Washington counties)
* Jacob C. Ashby (R, C, I, RF) .................... 27,514 (51.5%)
Tistrya Houghtling (D, G, WE, WF) ............ 25,903 (48.5%)

 

113th district (parts of Saratoga and Washington counties)
* Carrie Woerner (D, I) .............................. 28,199 (56.5%)
Morgan Zegers (R, C, RF) ............................ 21,737 (43.5%)

 

114th district (Warren, Essex and parts of Washington and Saratoga counties)
* Daniel G. Stec (R, C, I) ............................ 30,659 (81.2%)
Kathryn K. Wilson (WF) ................................. 7,084 (18.8%)

 

RENSSELAER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
* Joel Abelove (R) ......................................... 27,181 (44.7%)
Mary Pat Donnelly (D, I, WE, WF) ............. 33,654 (55.3%)


OVERVIEW
It was a rough election for New York Republicans.
With Gov. Andrew Cuomo winning a third term at the top of the ticket, Democrats swept all of the statewide races by lopsided margins.
Democratic challengers also unseated three incumbent Republicans in the state’s U.S. House contests, including in the Hudson Valley’s 19th Congressional District, where Rep. John Faso, R-Kinderhook, lost his bid for a second term. [See story, page 12.] The results mean the GOP now will hold just six seats in the state’s 27-member House delgation.
But voters delivered the most stunning result in the contests for the state Senate, which had been Republicans’ last base of power in Albany. Democrats picked up a eight seats across the state, which will give the party a hefty 40-23 majority when the chamber convenes in January. (Democrats had held a numerical majority of 32-31 in the Senate before the election, but Republicans controlled the chamber with the aid of a maverick Brooklyn Democrat, Sen. Simcha Felder.)
In local Senate races, all of the incumbents who sought re-election won easily. And in an open seat in the 43rd Senate District, where three-term Sen. Kathleen Marchione, R-Halfmoon, opted not to run again, Republican candidate Daphne Jordan, a Halfmoon town councilwoman who worked on Marchione’s staff, easily held the seat for her party.
But for long-serving Republicans like Sens. Elizabeth Little and James Tedisco, the shift to minority status in the Senate likely will require some adjustment.
With Democrats now holding substantial majorities in both the Senate and Assembly, as well as the governor’s office, the party’s progressive agenda will soon be put to the test. Proposals that have long been blocked by a Republican Senate -- single-payer health insurance, for example --- will now have to be considered with the understanding that they might actually become law. Democrats will also be confronted with decisions about tax policy, ethics and election reform, and a host of other matters that could put lawmakers and the governor on the spot.
In the Assembly, which already was heavily Democratic, the election gave the party control of 106 of the chamber’s 150 seats.
Among local Assembly races, incumbents prevailed across the board. But in the 107th district, Assemblyman Jake Ashby faced another close contest for a seat he first won narrowly in a special election earlier this year. His Democratic challenger, New Lebanon Town Clerk Tistrya Houghtling, carried the Columbia County portion of the district by 15 percentage points, but her edge there was offset by Ashby’s advantage in the more populous Rensselaer County portion of the district.
The 102nd district, a mainly west-of-Hudson seat that covers the Columbia County towns of Stockport and Stuyvesant, featured a rematch between incumbent Republican Christopher Tague and Aidan O’Connor, the Democrat he defeated by fewer than 200 votes in a special election in April. This time, Tague prevailed by more than 4,000 votes.
In the hotly contested race for Rensselaer County district attorney, Democratic candidate Mary Pat Donohue handily defeated incumbent Republican Joel Abelove after a campaign that focused mainly on allegations of misconduct and mismanagement stemming from Abelove’s tenure in office.
Abelove spent the first half of the year under a legal cloud after he was indicted in December 2017 on a felony charge of perjury and two misdemeanor counts of official misconduct in connection with his handing of the fatal police shooting of a drunken-driving suspect. But a judge dismissed those charges in June, ruling that the state attorney general’s office exceeded its authority in bringing the case.
The case stemmed from the death of Edson Thevenin, a 37-year-old black man from Colonie who was shot eight times by a Troy police sergeant during an April 2016 traffic stop. Former state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman’s office charged that Abelove short-circuited the inquiry into Thevenin’s death, effectively granting immunity to the Troy officer while failing to let a grand jury hear testimony from two civilian witnesses who said they didn’t believe the officer was in imminent danger when he opened fire.
Abelove has argued that the prosecution by Schneiderman, a Democrat, was motivated by partisan politics and that he was “vindicated” by the judge’s dismissal of the case.
But under the management of Schneiderman’s successor, Barbara Underwood, the attorney general’s office has moved to reinstate the charges against Abelove. A court ruling on that effort was still pending in late November.
Donohue focused on other issues -- including staff turnover in the district attorney’s office and a series of cases that were dismissed for failing to meet speedy trial deadlines -- as evidence of what she contended was Abelove’s poor management of the office.

 

 

 

VERMONT

 

Governor
Trevor Barlow (i) of Cavendish ........................ 3,266 (1.2%)
Cris Ericson (i) of Chester ................................ 2,129 (0.8%)
Christine Hallquist (D) of Hyde Park .........110,335 (40.4%)
Charles Laramie (i) of Fair Haven ................... 2,287 (0.8%)
Stephen Marx (ER) of Strafford ....................... 1,855 (0.7%)
Emily Peyton (LU) of Putney ............................ 1,839 (0.7%)
* Phil Scott (R) of Berlin ........................... 151,261 (55.4%)


Lieutenant governor
Murray Ngoima (LU) of Pomfret ..................... 4,108 (1.5%)
Don Turner Jr. (R) of Milton ..................... 108,417 (40.0%)
* David Zuckerman (D, P) of Hinesburg ... 158,530 (58.5%)

 

U.S. SENATOR
Folasade Adeluola (i) of Shelburne ................. 1,979 (0.7%)
Russell Beste (i) of Burlington .......................... 2,763 (1.0%)
Bruce Busa (i) of Readsboro ................................ 914 (0.3%)
Edward S. Gilbert Jr. (i) of Barre ...................... 2,244 (0.8%)
Reid Kane (LU) of Hartford ............................. 1,171 (0.4%)
Brad J. Peacock (i) of Shaftsbury ...................... 3,787 (1.4%)
* Bernie Sanders (i) of Burlington ............ 183,529 (67.4%)
Jon Svitavsky (i) of Bridport .............................. 1,280 (0.5%)
Lawrence Zupan (R) of Manchester ............ 74,663 (27.4%)


U.S. Representative
Cris Ericson (i) of Chester ................................ 9,110 (3.3%)
Laura Potter (LU) of Charleston ..................... 3,924 (1.4%)
Anya Tynio (R) of Charleston ...................... 70,705 (26.0%)
* Peter Welch (D) of Norwich ................... 188,547 (69.2%)


State treasurer
Richard Morton (R) of Brattleboro ............. 85,824 (32.4%)
* Beth Pearce (D) of Barre ........................ 179,451 (67.6%)


Secretary of state
* James C. Condos (D) of Montpelier ....... 178,863 (66.8%)
Mary Alice Herbert (LU) of Putney ................. 9,706 (3.6%)
H. Brooke Paige (R) of Washington ............ 79,035 (29.5%)


AUDITOR of ACCOUNTS
Marina Brown (LU) of Charleston ................. 10,947 (4.2%)
* Doug Hoffer (D, P) of Burlington .......... 160,291 (61.8%)
Richard Kenyon (R) of Brattleboro ............. 88,021 (34.0%)


Attorney general
* T.J. Donovan (D) of South Burlington .... 187,093 (70.1%)
Rosemarie Jackowski (LU) of Bennington ...... 9,536 (3.6%)
Janssen Willhoit (R) of St. Johnsbury ........... 70,226 (26.3%)

 

State SENATE

Bennington District (two seats)
* Brian Campion (D) .................................................. 9,734
Jeff Kaufer (L) ................................................................. 2,762
* Dick Sears (D) ........................................................ 10,525

Rutland District (three seats)
* Brian P. Collamore (R) .......................................... 11,380
Greg Cox (D, P) .............................................................. 9,949
Scott Garren (D, P) ......................................................... 7,371
Cheryl Hooker (D, P) ............................................... 10,767
Edward Larson (R) ....................................................... 10,004
James L. McNeil (R) ................................................. 10,673

 

State House

Addison-Rutland District (towns of Benson, Orwell, Shoreham, Whiting)
Terry Norris (i) ............................................. 1,009 (57.9%)
Barbara Wilson (D) ............................................ 735 (42.1%)

Bennington District 1 (towns of Pownal and Woodford)
Nelson Brownell (D) ........................................ 681 (47.3%)
Frederick Miller (i) ............................................. 364 (25.3%)
James A. O’Connor (R) ..................................... 394 (27.4%)

 

Bennington District 2-1 (two seats; town of Bennington)
Chris Bates (D) ........................................................... 1,328
* Timothy R. Corcoran II (D) ..................................... 1,733
Kevin Hoyt (R) ................................................................... 703
Michael Stern (i) ................................................................ 400

 

Bennington District 4 (two seats; towns of Arlington, Manchester, Sandgate and Sunderland)
* Cynthia Browning (D, R) ......................................... 1,938
Kathleen James (D) .................................................... 2,129
* Brian Keefe (R) ............................................................ 1,731


Rutland-Bennington District (Middletown Springs, Pawlet, Rupert, Tinmouth and Wells)
* Robin Chestnut-Tangerman (D, P) ............. 1,162 (54.0%)
Edgar Cleveland (R) ........................................... 989 (46.0%)

 

Rutland District 2 (two seats; Clarendon, Proctor, Wallingford and West Rutland)
* Tom Burditt (R) ....................................................... 1,842
Ken Fredette (D) ............................................................. 1,622
* Dave Potter (D) ........................................................ 2,001

 

Rutland District 3 (two seats; Castleton, Fair Haven, Hubbardton, West Haven)
* William Canfield (R) ................................................ 1,885
* Robert Helm (R) ...................................................... 1,695
Robert J. Richards (i) ...................................................... 1,240

 

Rutland District 5-1 (city of Rutland)
* Peter Fagan (R) .......................................... 1,137 (63.6%)
Heather Juliussen-Stevenson (D, P) .................. 652 (36.4%)

 

Rutland District 5-4 (city of Rutland)
Jacqueline “Beth” Fleck (R) ............................... 532 (40.4%)
William Notte (D) ............................................. 785 (59.6%)

 

Rutland District 6 (two seats; Brandon, Pittsford and Sudbury)
Tim Guiles (D, P) ............................................................... 942
Seth Hopkins (R) ............................................................ 1,272
Stephanie Jerome (D) ................................................. 1,553
* Charles “Butch” Shaw (R) ........................................ 1,702

 

Rutland-Windsor District 1 (Bridgewater, Chittenden, Killington, Mendon)
* Jim Harrison (R) ......................................... 1,269 (58.9%)
Gina Ottoboni (D) .............................................. 887 (41.1%)

 

Rutland-Windsor District 2 (Ludlow, Mount Holly and Shrewsbury)
Peter Berger (i) .................................................... 980 (49.1%)
Logan Nicoll (D, P) ....................................... 1,017 (50.9%)


STATE'S ATTORNEY, BENNINGTON COUNTY
Arnie Gottlieb (i) of Dorset ............................. 2,922 (21.4%)
* Erica Albin Marthage (D) of Manchester .... 7,842 (57.3%)
Christina Rainville (i) of Chester .................... 2,907 (21.3%)

 

As in Massachusetts, Vermont’s voters defied their reputation for blueness by easily re-electing a Republican governor -- in this case, Phil Scott -- who’s considered socially moderate and has kept his distance politically from President Trump.
And as in Massachusetts, voters also chose Democratic candidates by landslide margins in every other statewide race -- with the exception of U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the once and perhaps future Democratic presidential candidate, who stayed true his Vermont tradition of running and winning as an independent.
In state legislative races, Democrats posted a net gain of one seat in the state Senate as Cheryl Hooker, a public school teacher and former state representative, managed to capture one of two open seats in Rutland County. Incumbent Brian Collamore and former state Rep. James McNeil kept the other two Rutland seats in Republican hands. (Two seats were open because longtime GOP Sen. Peg Flory chose not to run again, and incumbent Sen. David Soucy lost in five-way Republican primary in August.)
The state Senate will now have 22 Democrats, six Republicans and two Progressives.
In the races for state House, Republicans faced a net lost of 10 seats across the state -- and with it their power to sustain the governor’s veto. When the House convenes in January, it will have 95 Democrats, 43 Republicans and 12 Progressives or independents.
In local House races in Bennington and Rutland counties, Democrats posted a net gain of three seats. Kathleen James unseated Republican Rep. Brian Keefe in Bennington District 4, while William Notte and Logan Nicoll won two open seats previously held by Republicans -- in Rutland City and in Rutland-Windsor District 2.

-- Compiled by Fred Daley

 

C -- Conservative Party
D -- Democratic Party
ER -- Earth Rights Party
G -- Green Party
GR -- Green-Rainbow Party
I -- Independence Party
i -- independent (no party)

L -- Libertarian Party
LU -- Liberty Union Party
P -- Progressive Party
R -- Republican Party
RF -- Reform Party
WE -- Women’s Equality
WF -- Working Families Party