Subj: Local Election Results and Plans
THE RESULTS
If you’ve read this far, you know the national results. Although Hillary Clinton is ahead by about 2,600,000 votes, because Article II of our constitution provides that the President shall be elected by electors from the respective states, Donald Trump is appointing his cabinet.
The New York State electors will vote next week for Clinton/Kaine who won in NY with 57.89% of the vote vs. 36.83% of the vote for Trump/Pence.
But in Putnam County, the Trump/Pence ticket carried 55.30% of the vote vs. 39.63% for Clinton/Kaine. (4.45% went to other parties or write-ins.)
Kent (except for the far west) was in line with the county results.
If you wish to see how your election district voted, LoHud has prepared an interactive map.
In other races, incumbents won, challengers lost.
Senator Charles Schumer (D) was reelected with 66.9% of the statewide vote. He carried Putnam with 50.4% and Kent with 49%, proving you don’t need road signs to win an election.
Sean Patrick Maloney (D) carried the 18th Congressional District (which includes Orange County) with 28,089 more votes than his opponent, but was 725 votes under in Putnam and 96 votes under in Kent, better than in previous years.
State Assemblywoman Sandy Galef (D) was reelected with 61.5% of the vote (which includes Northern Westchester) and carried Kent by 10 votes. Consider one of those votes as yours.
Although Terry Gipson (D) received 887 more votes in Kent than when he ran two years ago and 136 more votes than when he won four years ago, it was not enough to overcome the Trump turnout and State Senator Sue Serino (R) was reelected with 52.8% of the vote.
In Kent, 77% of registered voters voted. For comparisons, 73% voted in the presidential election of 2012, 46% voted in the gubernatorial election of 2014 and 29% voted in the municipal election last fall.
Turnout by affiliation was 79% for Democrats, 81% for Republicans, 85% for Conservatives, 64% for Greens, 75% for Working Families and 72% for voters who hadn’t chosen a party.
If you wish more information, Putnam results are here and NYS results are here.
WHAT’S NEXT?
The Kent Democratic Committee meets on Wednesday, January 11, at 7 pm in the Kent Firehouse on Route 301 to organize for 2017. We have twelve election districts in town, not all of them well-represented. We hope to field a full slate of candidates for the fall municipal elections. If we can successfully connect with even half of those who just voted, we could win in a landslide. The job of the committee – in case you’re thinking of it – is to meet more of our neighbors in each district, engage in more communal activities, to build bridges across the divide that exists. With your help, it can be done.
THANKS
Many of you knocked on doors, hosted events, made calls, contributed funds, and voted. Although not all the results were the ones we sought, participation in a democracy can be its own enabling virtue. “Government of the people” means government of you, me and our neighbors. It is not easy, but it is better than the alternatives.
The Kent Committee wishes all a new year filled with successes beyond even what we can imagine.
James Shearwood, Chair, Kent NY Democratic Committee
If you wish to be added to our email list, send a message to KentNYDemocrats@gmail.com.
