Golden Boy Likely To Get Silver, Rose and Frontus Celebrate Victory (Video)

BAY RIDGE – As Democrats take control of the New York Senate, it’s too close to call in the 22nd senatorial district. With 95.54% of the vote reporting, Andrew Gounardes, the Democrat is leading the Republican State. Sen. Marty Golden by 1,129. But there are a considerable amount of absentee ballots that need to be counted.

“We are not finished,” Golden said to a group of supporters at the Bay Ridge Manor last night. He has not conceded and Michael Tobman sent the following statement Wednesday morning: “Senator Golden is not conceding, as we are assessing the ballot situation – machine and absentee – to ensure that every vote is counted.”

Meanwhile, over at CEBU on 3rd Avenue in Bay Ridge, the Gounardes crew celebrated wholeheartedly the unofficial win, while the candidate himself was a bit more reserved about his .09% lead.

On the other hand, Max Rose and his ferocious campaign squad turned an overwhelming amount of conservative Staten Island voters with their canvassing efforts. Rose took the Island with 66,408 votes versus the Republican incumbent Dan Donovan’s 65,234. On the Bay Ridge side of the district, Rose beat Donovan with more than 10,000 votes. Overall, Rose received 52.76% of the vote, Donovan – 46.79%.

“462 days ago, we launched this campaign with a commitment to doing things differently,” Rose said in a statement. “We weren’t going to just try and win votes of Staten Islanders and South Brooklynites; we were going to earn their trust too.”

The Army Veteran received an unexpected congratulatory message from Donovan’s primary opponent, Michael Grimm. Grimm, a former Congressman, didn’t miss an opportunity to take a jab at the incumbent Donovan.

“I would like to congratulate Max on a well-fought race and wish him the best of luck in Congress,” wrote Grimm in a press release. “The people of Staten Island and Brooklyn have a unique opportunity with President Trump at the helm of our nation — an opportunity that we in NY-11 have unfortunately seen squandered over these past two years, directly leading to last night’s result,” he added.

Over in Coney Island, Mathylde Frontus beat the Republican candidate Steve Saperstein by 3000 votes. The final count came in at 54.04% to 43.31% of the vote with 97.94% of the vote reported.

In citywide races, Democrat Letitia James, — as expected — beat her Republican opponent Keith Wofford with close to 1.5 million votes. Votes tallied at 61.9% over 35.7%. James will be the first African American women to serve as the New York State attorney general.

The successor of her public advocate seat is determined next February during a special election, Jumaane Williams has already raised his hand.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo sailed to a third term as governor with 59% (3,349,999) of the vote.  Republican candidate Marc Molinaro got 36.8% of the vote, which is more than 18,000 more votes than Cuomo got in his 2014 re-election.

Tom DiNapoli, a Democrat beat out his Republican candidate Jonathan Richter 66.6% to 31.7% to remain the city’s comptroller.

All three ballot measures passed, which means:

1. There will be campaign finance reform to lower contribution limits. That also means NYC will increase their matching funds’ program from a $6-$1 match to $8-$1.
2. New Yorkers can expect a new Civic Engagement Commission to increase voter participation.
3. Community Board members now have term limits, board members can only serve four consecutive two-year terms.