ELECTION LATEST: Biden leads in GA, PA; Dems do well in Westchester and Fairfield

Former Vice President Joe Biden has taken narrow leads in Georgia and in Pennsylvania this morning, as vote-counting continues.

A presidential candidate needs 270 electoral votes needed to be declared the winner. While the Associated Press has called Arizona for the Democrat, other outlets have yet to name a winner in the Copper State; Biden thus still leads by a 253-213 margin by most accounts.

Biden has received the most votes ever cast for a U.S. presidential candidate, with 73,738,210 (50.5%) to Trump’s 69,655,617 votes (47.7%).

Steadily eating away at Trump’s lead in Georgia, Biden now has 2,449,580 votes there to Trump’s 2,448,484, with 99% reporting. The Peach State has 16 electoral votes.

In Pennsylvania, which has 20 electoral votes, Biden now leads by about 5,600, according to a CNN report that was posted at 9:15.

In Arizona, Biden is up 1,532,062 to 1,485,010 in the race for that state’s 11 electoral votes, with 90% reporting.

Other states still processing votes are North Carolina (15 electoral votes), Nevada (6) and Alaska (3).

While Biden has taken to the airwaves several times since Election Day on Nov. 3 to urge calm and patience, Trump delivered remarks at the White House last night blaming “Big Media, Big Money and Big Tech” for what he alleged was election fraud.

“If you count the legal votes, I easily win,” he said. “If you count the illegal votes, they can try to steal the election from us.”

Trump provided no evidence for his claims.

Trump”™s campaign has filed lawsuits in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia to stop the tallying of mail-in votes there. It is also seeking a recount in Wisconsin, and has signaled it may do the same in Nevada.

But a Georgia judge yesterday dismissed a lawsuit filed by state Republicans to prevent the “unlawful counting of ballots received after the election” in Savannah, and a state court judge in Michigan dismissed a lawsuit there brought by the Trump campaign that sought an immediate halt to vote tallying until its representatives had “meaningful” access to ballot counting and adjudication.

 

Congress

While Democrats will retain their majority in the U.S. House of Representatives ”“ though not by the large margin they had hoped for after doing so well in the 2018 midterms ­”“ their chances of taking control of the Senate appear to be fading.

Democratic candidates won in Arizona, where Mark Kelly defeated incumbent Sen. Martha McSally, and in Colorado, where John Hickenlooper beat incumbent Cory Gardner.

However, Republican Tommy Tuberville bested incumbent Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama; Joni Ernst defeated challenger Theresa Greenfield in Iowa; incumbent Steve Daines won over Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock in Montana; and Maine incumbent Susan Collins turned back challenger Sara Gideon.

In North Carolina, Republican Thom Tillis is ahead of Cal Cunningham by less than 100,000 votes with 93% reporting.

Both of Georgia’s Senate races appear to be heading for runoffs in January, with Republican David Perdue facing Democratic challenger Jon Ossoff and GOP Sen. Kelly Loeffler running against Raphael Warnock.

In Connecticut, U.S. Reps. Jim Himes (4th) and Jahana Hayes (5th), both Democrats, won reelection; New York results follow.

 

New York

As expected, Democrats will maintain their majorities in both the Empire State”™s Senate and Assembly, although several races are again too close to call.

Within Westchester County, in the Senate Democrat Alessandra Biaggi (34th) bested Republican James Gisondi by a 70.6% to 25.6% majority; Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (35th) ran unopposed; and Jamaal Bailey (36th) trounced Conservative Party candidate Robert Diamond, 95.4% to 4.6%.

Democrat incumbent Shelley Mayer defeated Republican Liviu Saimovici in the 37th, while in the 39th, Democrat incumbent James Skoufis is leading Republican Steve Brescia.

In the race to replace Sen. David Carlucci (D) in the 38th, the favored Democrat Elijah Reichlin-Melnick is trailing Republican William Weber Jr. And in the closely watched 40th, former Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino (R) appears to have defeated incumbent Democrat Peter Harckham, 53% to 47%.

In the State Assembly, Westchester race results were overwhelmingly pro-Democrat. Amy Paulin (88th), J. Gary Pretlow (89th), Nader Sayegh (90th), Steven Otis (91st), and Thomas Abinati (92nd) all ran unopposed. In the 93rd, Democrat Chris Burdick topped John Nuculovic; while the 95th saw Sandra Galef beat Lawrence Chiulli. Republican incumbent Kevin Byrne successfully defended the 94th against Stephanie Keegan.

As for Congress, Democrat Jamaal Bowman defeated Conservative Party candidate Patrick McManus (no Republican filed) in the 16th District. In the 17th, Democrat Mondaire Jones won the seat held by Nita Lowey, who is retiring after 16 terms, by beating Maureen McArdle-Schulman (R).

In the 18th, incumbent Democrat Sean Patrick Maloney leads Chele Farley, though the latter issued a statement yesterday declaring herself “cautiously optimistic” that “we will win.”

Other notable New York races found Democrats Jerrold Nadler (10th), Carolyn Maloney (12th), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (14th) all being returned to the U.S. House. The bitter fight between incumbent Max Rose and Republican Nicole Malliotakis appears to favor the challenger, although Rose insists he will triumph once all ballots are counted; presently a little more than 95% have been tallied.

The county favored Biden over Trump, 63.3% to 35.6%.

 

Connecticut

Democrats also appear set to retain control of both chambers of the General Assembly.

Democratic incumbents Bob Duff easily defeated Ellie Kousidis in the 25th; Carlo Leone turned back GOP challenger Eva Maldonado in the 27th; Julie Kushner bested Susan Chapman in the 24th; and Steve Meskers won reelection against Joseph Kelly in the 150th.

Meanwhile, Democrat incumbent Alex Kasser has a roughly 530 vote lead over Ryan Fazio in the 36th; incumbent Will Haskell is leading GOP challenger Kim Healy in the 26th; and incumbent Dennis Bradley is in front of Republican Josiah Israel in the 23rd.

In the 22nd, Republican Steven Choi leads incumbent Marilyn Moore by about 500 votes, with 53% of the votes tallied. In the 23rd, incumbent Democrat Dennis Bradley leads Josiah Israel.

Republican Kevin Kelly (21st) ran unopposed; earlier today he was named the new Senate Republican Leader, succeeding retiring Len Fasano.

Incumbent Republican Tony Hwang won the 28th over Michelle McCabe, and incumbent Kevin Witkos holds a roughly 3,000 vote advantage in the 8th over Democratic challenger Melissa Osborne.

On the Connecticut House side, incumbent Democrat David Arconti has bested Michael Henry in the 109th, while incumbent Bob Godfrey defeated Republican challenger Erin Domenech in the 110th.

Other Democratic incumbents winning reelection were Philip Young (120th), Joseph Gresko (121st); Charlie Stallworth 126th); Chris Perone (137th); Travis Simms (140th); Lucy Dathan (142nd); Caroline Simmons (unopposed, 144th); Patricia Miller (145th); David Michel (146th); and Daniel Fox (148th).

As for Republican incumbents, Ben McGorty defeated Jose Goncalves in the 122nd, while David Rutigliano leads Sujata Gadkar-Wilcox by fewer than 500 votes with nearly 100% reporting in the 123rd. Jason Perillo defeated Elaine Matto in the 113th, but Democrat Aimee Berger-Girvalo has claimed victory in the 111th over Bob Hebert, flipping what had long been a Republican seat occupied by John Frey for 22 years.

A hotly contested rematch of 2018 between incumbent Mitch Bolinsky and Democratic challenger Rebekah Harriman-Stites for the 106th appears to have gone in Bolinsky”™s favor; he leads by less than 400 votes with nearly 100% reporting.

Incumbent Democrat Cristin McCarthy Vahey claimed victory over Joanne Romano-Csonka in the 133rd; Jennifer Leeper has declared a win over incumbent Republican Brian Farnen in the 132nd; incumbent Democrat Anne Hughes has bested John Shaban in the 135th; incumbent Democrat Jonathan Sternberg has defeated Chip Stephens in the 136th; and incumbent Democrat Matt Blumenthal beat Dan Maymin in the 147th.

Lacking any vote totals are the races for the 128th, pitting incumbent Christopher Rosario against Republican Ethan Book; the 129th, where incumbent Steve Stafstrom faces Republican Helene Kouassi; and the 130th (incumbent Antonio Felipe vs. Republican Terrence Sullivan).

Elsewhere in the county, Republican incumbent Stephen Harding leads Kerri Colombo in the 107th; Democrat incumbent Andre Baker leads Jasmin Sanchez by about 800 votes in the 124th, with 25% reporting; Democrat incumbent Jack Hennessy is ahead of Peter Perillo by about 900 votes in the 127th, with 33% reporting; incumbent Republican Laura Devlin is up by some 600 votes over Carla Volpe with nearly 100% reporting in the 134th; incumbent Kevin Ryan is ahead of Caleb Espinosa by about 1,000 in the 139th, with 50% reporting; and Democrat Stephanie Thomas leads Patrizia Zucaro by roughly 1,500 votes in the 143rd with nearly 100% reporting.

Also, Republican Kimberly Fiorello leads Kathleen Stowe by 1,500 votes in the 149th; and Republican incumbent Harry Arora leads Hector Arzeno by 900 votes in the 151st.

Republican incumbents J.P. Sredzinski, Thomas O”™Dea, David Labriola, and Terrie Wood ran unopposed in the 112th, 125th, 131st, and 141st, respectively, as did Democrat Caroline Simmons in the 144th.

Elsewhere, in the race to replace retiring State House Republican Leader Themis Klarides in the 114th, Democrat Mary Welander is leading Dan DeBarba. Democrat Matt Ritter won reelection in the 1st and will replace retiring Joe Aresimowicz as Speaker of the House.

The county favored Biden over Trump, 59.5% to 37.2%.