Zeldin beats Bishop
Republican Lee Zeldin, 34, of Shirley topped incumbent Democrat Tim Bishop in the 1st District Congressional race, starting with a lead when the first results were announced Tuesday night and then widening his margin of victory throughout the night.
The state Senator eventually finished with a shade under 55 percent of the vote, compared with Mr. Bishop’s 45 percent, according to preliminary results released by the Suffolk County Board of Elections.
Mr. Bishop carried Shelter Island, with preliminary reports showing as the polls closed Tuesday night — without absentee ballots counted — the congressman with 556 votes to Mr. Zeldin’s 419.
Governor Andrew Cuomo got 533 votes on the Island compared to 353 for his opponent, Westchester County Executive Rob Astornio.
In the two unopposed local races, Town Justice Mary-Faith Westervelt received 869 votes and Annemarie Seddio, Receiver of Taxes, got 849 votes.
Turnout was off on the Island for the midterm election with approximately 56 percent of registered voters casting ballots. In the last presidential election of 2012, 63 percent of registered voters went to he polls.
“We took decisive action today to fix America,” Mr. Zeldin told his supporters at the Suffolk County GOP gala at Emporium in Patchogue Monday night. ”We can’t change Washington unless we change who we send to Washington and that’s what you did tonight.”
It was an evening that saw the GOP expand its control of the House of Representatives while also wresting control of the U.S. Senate. Mr. Zeldin said the results across the country will bring “much-needed checks and balances on [the president].”
“The one-house bills the Republicans used to pass are now going on Barack Obama’s desk,” Mr. Zeldin said.
Mr. Bishop, 64, of Southampton was first elected in 2002 over one-term Republican incumbent Felix Grucci of Brookhaven 50-48 percent. He is currently serving his sixth term after serving in the administration of Southampton College for 29 years, many of them as provost.
Mr. Zeldin first opposed Mr. Bishop in 2008, when he received just 41 percent of the vote in a presidential year that saw Democrats take back the White House.
Two years later, Mr. Zeldin re-emerged with a decisive victory over incumbent Brian Foley for New York State’s 3rd Senate District, securing 57 percent of the vote. He then won re-election again in 2012, putting him on the path to another race with Mr. Bishop.
But Mr. Zeldin, an attorney and a veteran of the Iraq War, first had his mettle tested in a GOP primary in June against perennial challenger George Demos, whom he defeated handily.
His campaign only picked up steam from there and he was finally painted as the favorite this weekend when Newsday released a Siena College poll that showed Mr. Zeldin with a 5-percent edge over the incumbent.
Mr. Zeldin centered much of his campaign on reining in wasteful government spending and ending dysfunction in Washington. Of his almost four years in Albany, he pointed often to legislative work that repealed the saltwater fishing license and partially repealed the locally despised MTA payroll tax. He also won funds for the PFC Joseph Dwyer PTSD support program, which helps returning veterans cope with the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.
The 1st District race was the costliest for the House in New York State this year, eclipsing the $15 million mark, according to campaign finance records. Newsday reported it was the eighth most expensive Congressional race in the country.
