GOP blocks county board supermajority
Republicans may end up losing a seat on the Westchester County Board of Legislators but the party seems to have won just enough on Tuesday to continue to block a Democratic supermajority.
Twelve of the board”™s 17 seats are needed for a supermajority, which would mean that Democrats could override a county executive veto when voting in unison. County Executive Rob Astorino, a Republican who has clashed with the board”™s Democratic leadership, was re-elected to a second term on Tuesday.
During Astorino”™s first two years in office, Democrats held a 12-5 supermajority which allowed them to override dozens of the county executives vetoes. The supermajority was broken in the 2011 elections and heading into Tuesday Republicans held seven seats on the board.
As of Wednesday morning, Democrats and Republicans had secured 10 seats and six seats, respectively. Too close to call was the race for District 10, which encompasses parts of Eastchester, Tuckahoe and New Rochelle. Sheila Marcotte, the Republican incumbent, trailed Democrat Mary Jo Jacobs by 11 votes on Wednesday and voting machines had been impounded pending official numbers, according to Marcotte.
With or without a Marcotte victory and despite lackluster results in several races, Republicans were able to stave off a retaking of the supermajority.
It”™s unclear if having the number of seats for a supermajority would mean a unified front regardless. Last year, two Democratic legislators, Michael Kaplowitz and Virginia Perez, formed a coalition with board Republicans to approve the 2013 county budget after most of the Democratic majority had walked out of the legislative meeting.
Democrats were victorious in the county clerk and district attorney races. Incumbent clerk Tim Idoni fended off a challenge from Mary Beth Murphy and won with 53 percent of the vote. Incumbent District Attorney Janet DiFiore was uncontested.
District-by-District results
District 1: Cortlandt, Peekskill, Yorktown
Incumbent Republican John Testa, a former Peekskill mayor, cruised to victory with 60 percent of the vote over Democratic challenger Duane Jackson.
District 2:Â Bedford, Lewisboro, Mount Kisco, North Salem, Pound Ridge, Somers
Incumbent Peter Harckham, currently the Democratic majority leader, edged out Andrea Rendo, chairwoman of the Lewisboro Republican Town Committee.
District 3:Â Mount Pleasant, North Castle, Pleasantville
Republican incumbent Mike Smith faced no formal opposition.
District 4:Â New Castle, Somers, Yorktown
Sixteen-year incumbent Michael Kaplowitz, a Democrat, beat out Republican Gregory Kane in a landslide victory.
District 5: Harrison, Scarsdale, White Plains
Benjamin Boykin II, a Democrat who sits on the White Plains City Council, beat out Republican Miriam Levitt Flisser in a race with no incumbent. Bill Ryan, a Democrat who had sought the nomination for county executive, did not seek re-election.
District 6: Harrison, Port Chester, Rye Brook
Republican incumbent David Gelfarb beat out Harrison Democrat Mark Jaffe.
District 7: Harrison, Larchmont, Mamaroneck, New Rochelle, Rye
Incumbent Democrat Judy Myers did not seek re-election. Rye Councilwoman Catherine Parker edged out Republican John Verni in a close race. Tom Murphy, a Mamaroneck Democrat, appeared on the ballot on the Working Families line after he lost a primary to Parker.
District 8:Â Elmsford, Greenburgh, Sleepy Hollow, Tarrytown
Democrat Alfreda Williams was uncontested in a re-election bid.
District 9:Â Briarcliff Manor, Cortlandt, Croton-on-Hudson, Ossining, Peekskill
Incumbent Catherine Borgia, a Democrat, won re-election over Ossining Republican Peter J. Tripoldi IV.
District 10: Eastchester, New Rochelle, Tuckahoe
Incumbent Republican Sheila Marcotte and Democratic challenger Mary Jo Jacobs were neck-in-neck at press time.
District 11:Â New Rochelle, Pelham, Pelham Manor
Republican Minority Leader Jim Maisano trounced Democratic challenger Stavros Pantelis, 69 percent to 31 percent, according to unofficial tallies.
District 12: Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Edgemont, Hartsdale,  Hastings-on-Hudson, Irvington
Mary Jane Shimsky, incumbent, faced no opposition in the Democratic stronghold of Greenburgh.
District 13:Â Mount Vernon
Board vice chair Lyndon Williams was unopposed.
District 14: Mount Vernon, Yonkers
Republican incumbent Bernice Spreckman staved off a challenge from Yonkers Republican R. Rocky Richard.
District 15:Â Bronxville, Yonkers
Incumbent Gordon Burrows, a Republican, took 90 percent of the vote in a race where his only opposition was Working Families-endorsed Delfim Heusler who writes the Yonkers Insider blog.
District 16:Â Yonkers
Current board Chairman Ken Jenkins, a Democrat, had no formal opposition.
District 17:Â Yonkers
Democrat Virginia Perez, one of two Democrats who voted for the 2013 budget with Republicans, faced no GOP challenger but had to win a primary against Jose Roman and Nerissa Pena. Despite losing the Democratic primary, Roman and Pena appeared on the Working Families Party and Independence Party lines, respectively, and received a combined 25 percent of the vote.